Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

3 reviews

snowydaze's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

The ending was a bit rushed, otherwise I loved the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Murder, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Medical content, and Hate crime

morganperks's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Xenophobia

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Marisol and her sister Gabi have come to the US as refugees to escape gang violence back home. When restrictive boarder practices threaten to send them home, Marisol agrees to become part of a medical experiment in order to have their asylum request heard. The experiment seeks to try a new medical technology designed to transfer grief and trauma from someone experiencing them to someone else as a sort of temporary holding tank of sorts. Marisol is paired with a girl her age who recently lost a sibling in a traumatic way. 

I enjoyed this read quite a bit. The story flowed smoothly, and the characters were engaging. I thought the concept of transferring grief and trauma from one person to another was an interesting, though troubling, concept and it was well executed here. It was stressful seeing Marisol fall prey to unethical practices targeting vulnerable populations! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Death of sibling, PTSD, flashback, battlefield trauma, explosion trauma, medical science unethically taking advantage of vulnerable populations, detention center, US immigration practices