Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Firekeepers datter by Angeline Boulley

105 reviews

adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

WOW! This book started a little slow but once it picked up, it had me fully invested. So many intense moments where I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, too many possibilities kept me on my toes. Highly recommend this book! There was some more challenging content in this story, including: sexual abuse, drug abuse, addiction, domestic violence, and murder—so be aware if any of these things are potential triggers.

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Page turner. Definite violence, but handled respectfully. Culturally relevant and informative (Chippewa).

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was a stunningly written exploration of what it means to have each foot in a different world, and how grappling with identity, family, love, and loss can lead to layers of complication. There is a full exploration of what it means to be native on the border of the US and Canada, what drug trafficking can do to a community, and the complicated relationship between native people and policing.

This book brings forth both the beautiful parts of being native and the devastating parts, and strikes a balance between the two. There are incredible descriptions of ceremonies and practices like the use of plant medicines as well as a grappling with the bloodied history of residential schools, drug use, and the lack of legal support for people living on reservations.

Since this is an #OwnVoices novel, I encourage you to read the reviews of native readers to decide whether to pick this up, but if you’re looking for my vote this book is an absolute and resounding YES.

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow this book was incredible. At first I was thrown off because I assumed it was present day and was a little thrown off by the texting and the references to a BlackBerry. Then about 3/4 through I realized that it was set in the early 2000s and that made it all make sense. 

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challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This review is based on the audiobook.

This book is a coming of age story that reminds us that sometimes wisdom comes in the harshest of ways. I appreciated the very real depictions of how
grief relating to death and "lost ones"
manifests in different ways for different people.

While knowledge of histories such as residential schools (or, as the book calls it, "boarding schools") and the Sixties Scoop is not necessary, it's clear that the history informs the actions of many characters, including Daunis and her elders. I highly recommend looking into these histories before or as you are reading this book.

Overall, I think it was a well-written book with important themes. Boulley did a good job of leaving hints and foreshadowing as the book went along. My only real issues were with pacing and the ending. It was hard at times to know if months, days, or merely hours had passed in the narrative. This may have been an issue with listening by audiobook, however. As for the ending... it felt like it was merely there to tie loose ends in the plot, like the ending screen in a documentary stating what happened after filming ended. The knowledge was satisfying, but the way it was written wasn't.

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fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings