Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

14 reviews

sewoller's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment

novelyon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-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

3.5

The development of Marisol and Rey's relationship was sweet and I enjoyed their parallel arcs as they both discover how they should each tackle their own grief and trauma in a healthy way. The sisterly dialogue between Marisol and Gabi was written very well. The greatest strength of this book was the conversations; each character had a distinct voice and personality, and it was always a joy to just read about the characters talking.
While I enjoyed the characters' arcs and relationships, I found the plot itself to be a bit slow (especially in the beginning, with multiple chapters explaining how the grief transfer works, which doesn't feel very important as this book is very light sci-fi anyway), and the themes could've been touched on with a little more depth. For a novel where the protagonist is a brown immigrant being exploited for a privileged white girl, it lets off the characters that caused and perpetuated that exploitation surprisingly, and disappointingly, lightly. Not only that, but I wish the book dealt with Gabi's trauma more as well; both sisters have been through so much yet the novel doesn't quite touch upon Gabi as it does Marisol; there are many moments where Marisol goes "she's been through so much," yet there are very few moments outside of a precious few lines of dialogue that show that Gabi and some of her behaviors may be processing her own traumas as well.
The ending was also quite abrupt:

Like they're searching for Gabi and her friend Juliette at this party but it ends when Marisol just finds Gabi...where was Juliette LOL

Overall, a wonderful book to read if you are invested for the relationships between the characters, but if one wants to read a book that really dives into the heavy topic of US immigration policy and exploitation, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Outing

Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Racism

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

mckeelyshannon's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

One of my favorite lines from this book is “A heaviness sits under my skin, above my bones—an invisible, smothering blanket. Pavor, angustia, pánico, a collection of heavy, gut-churning feelings. I am drowning.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault

kathsaph's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

"The Grief Keeper" is the story of Marisol, a seventeen-year-old girl, who flees El Salvador with her little sister under threat of death. Once in America Marisol is offered the chance to win asylum by participating in an experiment; taking another person's grief. What she does not expect is falling in love with the girl she is saving. 

This novel was personally difficult to read, but completely relevant and impactful. So many details were packed into 300 pages, all contributing to amazing character development and storytelling. The book is in the first person and often includes Spanish, I ended up looking up the words as I went along, and I recommend doing the same, it added another layer of depth. My response to "The Grief Keeper" was visceral, and although not all of the technology in the book exists, the societal views that would allow the experiment to happen do, making the book terrifying. Please check triggers before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Torture, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

spcandybars's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-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: Racism and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, and Mental illness

courtneyfalling's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This made me cry multiple times. I'd call it primarily a sad, contemporary novel with speculative fiction elements to deepen the emotional side. All of the main characters feel drawn-out and almost blurry around their edges... it's a lot more about how things feel than who they are. Marisol especially is a complicated mix of fiercely stubborn and mostly passive or internal, which makes the book's pacing sometimes feel heavy. The beginning weighs down a lot, and then we finally get the bulk of important backstory and growth in the final chapters. I can't say I was ever enamored with Rey as a character or the budding relationship between her and Marisol, but they do have some lighthearted moments and I liked the deeper arc of Marisol letting go of her internalized lesbophobia. And the criticism of the US immigration system is very well-done

although I still feel like Indranie deserves a lot more comeuppance than she gets

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol

Additional CW for bomb attack/mass violence

lilcoppertop's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

oliverreeds's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

i really enjoyed this book because the characters were very well-written; however, the plot seemed like a loose association to give the characters room instead of a fleshed out plot. the idea of being a "grief keeper" seemed important at the beginning but slowly lost it's importance. i thought that the story would be based around the main character taking more than one person's grief over the book, but she stayed with only one person which, to me, made the book feel incomplete. the addition of the flashbacks as well seemed inorganic. i don't know what they added to the main character, and i wanted to know more about gabi as well and how the past was affecting her. the climax of the book was also so close to the end and didn't leave time for proper emotional coping with the reality of the situation. however, i loved the characters so much! i feel like they operated like real people (even though i wish marisole had been more vocal to rey about things she was upset about) and i enjoyed the romance element that was added in. oh, and i also wish the side characters had been in more scenes. they were only in one, which i felt didn't make them important to the novel as a whole especially because they were such interesting characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pedophilia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship

cheesepuppy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.5

I hated this book as much as I loved it. It was a beautiful read. I looooved the flashbacks that let us have a glimpse into the past. 

The author did a wonderful job explaining and making me believe in this technology that doesn’t really exist. The concept was interesting.  I hate what was done to the main character in both her own country and US. I thoroughly enjoyed and hated this story

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood and Murder