Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Into the Light by Mark Oshiro

6 reviews

happily_undignified's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

"I control what I can: the stories I tell. Who I tell them to." ⠀
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Mark Oshiro, Into The Light⠀
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Into The Light  by Mark Oshiro was a heavy book with a slightly supernatural twist that included difficult themes like religious cults, abuse of foster care children, homelessness, and conversion camps. ⠀
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Main character Manny is a jaded, queer, teen who is running from his past but also wants to confront it to try to save his sister from the evil people who have brainwashed her. The story follows his haphazard journey down the California coast as he comes to terms with his trauma and learns to trust the people who come alongside him to help. ⠀
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I enjoyed the first person narration and Manny's cynical yet hopeful personality. The religious trauma was hard to read through but I found it incredibly authentic. This is a remarkable story with an autobiographical feel and I loved the supernatural twist. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Grief, Homophobia, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Racism

maranda_maria's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? No

4.75

Mark Oshiro will tear you apart just to put you back together in the end. Into the Light is a heartbreakingly beautiful reflection of the impact religious trauma has on queer people. There is a twist you will not see coming that ties the book together, and is as disturbing and unnerving as it should be. Overall, Into the Light is an ode to queer people who have or are in the process of healing from religious trauma with the overall message that hope is never lost. We are never too broken to find love and joy even after the worst of times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content

grimdark_dad's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Religious bigotry

imstephtacular's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, and Cursing

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Bullying, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Homophobia, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Blood

Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and War

daniellestarredpages's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Into The Light hooked me from the very beginning and kept my attention until the very end. I really enjoyed Into The Light but I must say that it is not a happy story. In Mark Oshiro's own words, Into The Light is a story that tackles the experience of Christian Nationalism and Adoption in the US.

While this book has two POVs -Manny, a homeless boy trying o save his sister from a Christian Cult and Eli, a boy who is currently the star child of thick very same cult- Into The Light is really Manny's story. We get about 5 chapters from Manny's POV to every 1 from Eli's and I can't say I minded. Oshiro writes Manny's experiences on the road, before and with the Varela's very well. The slightly non-linear timeline of the book, while it takes a bit to get used to, really adds to the atmosphere of this novel. The formatting of Manny's thought process felt slightly stilted but unlike in other stories, this felt very purposeful and added to the atmosphere of this book as well.

The character work in this book was also a standout in the reading experience. Manny and Eli, while they don't have universal experiences, they are very easy to connect to and care for. The other characters in this book were just as fleshed out as Manny and Eli they all contributed to the story.

I really loved Into The Light and highly recommend it. Be sure to look into the trigger warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Abortion

fadingapple's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

Thanks so much to NetGalley for this ARC!

3.5/5 stars

I had to take some time and process this one - it has an exhaustive list of trigger warnings and deals with some extremally heavy topics and I needed time to make sure I wasn't just gut reacting, either giving it a higher rating to support what I believe the intent was or a lower rating because it was uncomfortable. 

In the end I can't say I loved it, completely outside how important I think stories like this are. It was an unexpected blend of magical realism (I think? I'm honestly still a bit unclear) and therapeutic/traumatic realism. It discusses extremely important yet under-realized topics like religious trauma, child abuse/neglect/sexual assault, foster care/adoption, child death/murder, homophobia/conversion camps, racism....but the author keeps the reader in the dark by deliberately withholding the timing of the 2 POVs and mixing up the trauma of a child with a completely unexplained "miracle". I struggle to describe it without spoilers, though I'm honestly not sure I could even with them.

In the end, I think this is an incredibly important story but the execution wasn't for me - I don't mind being confused if the writing is well done and the author brings it to a satisfying ending  - that, I think, is what was missing for me here. I didn't truly feel satisfied with the ending and it felt rushed and too unrefined - I spent more time confused and saying "well this already odd book just got super weird" than I did really feeling the impact of the story, which in my opinion took away from the power of the book. 

I would still recommend this book, but only to people I know very well and would trust could handle the subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Child death, Mental illness, Abandonment, Bullying, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia