Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

10 reviews

missgrangerr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I read this book because I read [b:Sadie|34810320|Sadie|Courtney Summers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1534431396s/34810320.jpg|56026767] and loved it. I figured I would catch up on [a:Courtney Summers|1487748|Courtney Summers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1519531831p2/1487748.jpg] books. This book was difficult. The main character, Parker is extremely hard to like. Usually there is something redeeming about the protagonist in a story even if they are supposed to be 'unlikable' yet she was unnecessarily mean to everyone and extremely selfish. I honestly believed the bad thing she did would turn to to be not that bad, it was. Then there is the reason this book is extraordinarily bad to me Spoilerthe dog she rescues in the book dies. The scene is unnecessarily graphic and lengthy.. Up until that point I was holding out hope that Parker would redeem herself and she never does.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

sebradley29's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Drug use, Child death, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

venusdapoopiehead's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

wanted to re-read this to give it another chance and i’m so glad i did considering i missed the entire point of this book the first time i read it. parker, imo, is by far one of the most realistic and relatable main characters i’ve read about in a book. the self sabotaging behavior, isolating yourself and pushing people away, the need for perfection and desperately trying to fulfill the incredibly high expectations people have of you, etc etc, all incredibly relatable and something that i think almost everyone can relate to, especially teens, and i’m just actually glad she’s not perfect (she even said so herself) cause picture perfect characters are so boring and uninteresting. 

one thing that i think i loved the most about this book was the style of the writing, where we (the readers) get like little snippets of the past and what happened, as a way to try to fully understand and comprehend why parker is the way that she is, i thought that was a nice touch to the book overall since i wanted to know more about such an interesting main character. apparently some couldn’t tell that said snippets in the book were from the past, personally if you just simply look at the fact that they’re in italics and use context clues, it’ll be easy to tell that it’s clearly talking about parker’s past. i am slightly curious about how parker’s life goes from there-like i think i’d love a little sequel where she’s an adult and we get a glimpse into how she’s doing now that she’s older and how much progress she made in terms of self improvement, if she made any progress at all, etc, but obviously the chances of a sequel are pretty slim, so oh well. 

also personally wasn’t a fan of parker and jake’s relationship? situationship? idk but i didn’t care, especially since jake was kind of a weirdo at times (which ig is to be expected cause he’s a teenage boy but still) so each time they interacted (which was a lot, pretty much half of the book) i just did not care whatsoever. 

TLDR: loved the relatability of the main character and how realistic she felt (cause let’s be honest here what high schooler isn’t super depressed and extremely flawed). also loved the writing style, wish i could see into the main character’s future tho cause now im way too invested into the life of someone who doesn’t even exist, but im fine with the fact that there won’t ever be a sequel to this. didn’t care about parker and jake’s “relationship” or whatever, but other than that, good soup.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Infidelity

coolcat02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I love how the main character is realistic and relatable. The way the author slowly revealed things that made everything make sense was so brilliant. I'm obsessed with how Parker wasn’t just fixed and she realistically needed more time. Also can we take a moment for the hero of the story; Bailey!! He was so adorable and I love what he meant to Parker. This book hit me and I loved it.  I love this author and eat up all her books. This feels like a must read for all my fellow perfectionists out there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Self harm

ellainalisa's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Rape, Animal death, and Death

saltair_andtherust_onyourdoor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my all-time favorite but definitely not a book for everyone, I enjoyed the storyline but Parker -the main character- was VERY dislike able, still absolutely loved her growth at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Rape, and Suicide

mlombardi567's review

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Rape

thebooknook180's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicide attempt

samh's review

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape

fountain_of_book's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book had me confused for pretty much all of it. It was so worth it though. I highly recommend this if you loved Saddie. 

I wish/hope there is a story to what really happened to Jessie and even and update on how Parker did after therapy.

Bold

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, and Death