Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan

98 reviews

morganegrant's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Abortion

kbweis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Car accident

melissafirman's review against another edition

emotional sad

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 I have mixed emotions about this book. Let's start with what I liked.

1. I'm a big fan of Jennifer Finney Boylan's writing and a bit less so of Jodi Picoult's. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have picked this up if JFB wasn't a co-author. For those new to her work, I highly recommend her novel Long Black Veil and memoir I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted. This is the third book of Jodi Picoult's I've read and all have been 3 stars.

2. For most of the first half (perhaps even 3/4) of the book, I was fully invested in the plot, wanting to know what happened. I felt the pacing was excellent, up to a particular point.

3. I loved Lily, felt like I knew her, and was truly sorry she was dead. (Not a spoiler-it's right on the book jacket.)

As we got closer to the end, however, it felt like several key aspects started to unravel. Mostly, I HAVE ISSUES AND LOTS OF QUESTIONS. Rant below:

WTF was that ending with Maya confessing???!! After she outright lied on the stand? Why didn't anyone do any semblance of investigation??!! It was like, oh, there's Asher's fingerprints, his shirt has Lily's blood, he's the spurned boyfriend, must be him! I get that Gina Jewett was trying to make a name for herself as the prosecutor (and I think that, in that regard, her last name is unfortunate at best and stereotypical at worst) but nobody talked to Ava about people Lily had problems with in the past, like HER FATHER who clearly knew where they now live and had a previous violent past in regard to Lily? What about that Jonah asshole, who conveniently pops up at Dartmouth? Why didn't they interrogate Maya more? I just didn't get it.

Some other issues: There's a lot about beekeeping, almost too much. I think those sections could have been greatly condensed. Plus, there are a lot of heavy topics included in this novel (read the trigger warnings) and that felt a bit like trauma p**n at times, not to mention repetitive, particularly regarding Olivia's relationship with her ex-husband. Overall, this could have been much shorter.  

3.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Stalking and Abortion

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

ashley1233's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

I found it was stressful, intense and emotionally taxing.  There were too many traumatic experiences for me.  It was not enjoyable.  
That being said- it is a well written book.  It’s an interesting plot.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Grief, and Suicide attempt

jamby4546's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Transphobia, and Murder

sjp8987's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, and Murder

shannonswick's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

 I would like to preface this by saying that I kind of went into this book blind. The only thing I knew was what the synopsis told me (which I think was purposefully done by the authors) and I think depending on how open-minded you are, I think you should do the same. However, I would like to state that as an avid thriller reader, I don't think this should be marketed as a “thriller”, it's a light mystery at best. So if you’re expecting anything thriller-crazy, don’t. 

But anyway, I LOVED this book! It did take me a while to love it though. As I was reading in the beginning, I liked it but I didn’t love it, but it all came together soon enough. There are so many layers here and stories told that this book provides lots of depth. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was getting really attached to the characters and even teared up a couple of times hearing what they had to go through (especially one character in particular). And I love how multifaceted and flawed our main characters were; I feel like it humanized them in a way because with stories like this sometimes authors make the characters a little too perfect that it takes the authenticity of the story and the character.

The writing is sooooo good! I could literally feel the characters' emotions through the page. I LOVED this book so much and I personally was a big fan of how educational it was considering I knew nothing of what it would've been like to be in Lily's situation. 

The only qualms I have with this book is that I wasn't really into the "bee talk", but some metaphors did stick (no pun intended). Also, in regards to Lily and Asher's relationship (loved them, they were the type of toxic that you actually want to root for) and them "knowing each other so well"; I feel like we were TOLD that rather than shown. I would've loved a few scenes dedicated to them having innocent fun and listing things they had in common rather than just being told that they have this phenomenal connection.

Also, that scene that we get about Asher being okay with Lily being trans. I wish we could've gotten that reveal through Lily's flashback instead of Olivia's present perspective. Because in Lily's POV it shows him freaking out and storming out of her bedroom when he found out. I feel like it would've been more impactful if we got a dedicated scene in her perspective of him being okay with her being trans and loving for "who she was, not what she was".

  Also, another thing, I feel like the ending "twists" was so underwhelming. 

It being Maya to be the one that pushed her was so cliche and felt like a cop-out to me (I was hoping it would've been Dirk). And her not facing any repercussions for what she did piss me off because she literally killed someone and got away with it. The writing was so good in this book that I think I'm gonna cock it up them being in a rush and unsure how to end the book. It's a great book regardless,  but the ending twist was not it. The overall ending was good though.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, Blood, and Abortion

crazycactus12321's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

This is a really graphic book that depicts trans violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide