Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

43 reviews

books4bee's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Infertility, Death of parent, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cancer, Drug use, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Cursing

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

What a beautiful story and it's told in such an interesting way. It's multiple narrators and part of the fun for me was figuring out who was speaking at the start of each chapter. It's also not linear. I enjoyed that but realize it's not for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexual content, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Drug use, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

jmcampbell57's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use

ryanichole's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Genocide, Hate crime, and Murder

katemolony's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, and Cancer

libraryghost's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer, Racism, Terminal illness, and Child death

Minor: Addiction and Drug abuse

absolute_bookery's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a beautiful book - the writing is so poetic and heartfelt it blew me away. It touches on so many difficult topics but in an incredibly sensitive way, I was swept away and heartbroken all at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Child death

ebgat's review against another edition

inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Child death

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual content and Cancer

Minor: Hate crime and Child death

sarasbooks's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

The story starts with a traditional ceremony, a coming of age celebration of sixteen year old Melody. She's wearing a dress her mother never got to wear as her parents and grandparents watch her and think back about their past, reminiscing about their own youth.

The book then alternates between different timelines and povs. I can definitely imagine that the format would be kind of confusing to some people. But somehow it worked very well for me. Even if at the very start of one chapter I wasn't sure who we were talking about, I very quickly and naturally followed the thread. 

It's a book about the family's three generations, their self-discovery, their journey through poverty, racism im and life choices. 

I became even more excited to read it when I saw that Ocean Vuong had blurbed it. And I can definitely see the similar writing style between him and Woodson. Although a short book, Red at the Bone is full of depth and emotion. It's simple yet powerful. It's about family, culture and historical events. 

Read this one if you like short books with poetic writing centered around familial relationships.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent