Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

11 reviews

tania_mybookishsecret's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Blood and Vomit

Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Child death

annorabrady's review

dark hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.25

A great, gentle story of self-discovery, family secrets, trauma, and grief. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

qrschulte's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

Ugh what a beautiful and emotional book. Had me crying by the end. My suspicions were correct, and the reveal at the end was hard, but perfect. It was definitely horror, but not too much for me to handle. It was scary while still being manageable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Torture, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, Slavery, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

lizgom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

This will probably be my favorite middle grade book. I listened to this as an audiobook, and honestly it was great. I feel like it gave the characters more depth than I would've given them if I had read it. I have a habit of liking middle grade books better as audiobooks. This is a great take on mental health and reaching out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Violence, Murder, and Torture

szuum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death of parent

directorpurry's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Death of parent

aformeracceleratedreader's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. Wasn't expecting it to make me cry, but here we are. The story is based in Malaysia with Malay sprits/demons/supernatural beings sprinkled through. This story shows a girl who never quite fit in, discovers she has been bound to a spirit, and has to deal with complications with the spirit and some humans, and finds out family history that has been hidden from her. Also, Jing Wei is a lovely and entertaining side character! Great friend right there and loved that she was a nerd for sci-fi (although I'm not big on Star Wars, I loved her sick burn calling someone Jar Jar Binks).
I will def look for more books by this author. It was so nice to read a book that has a similar culture to mine and if I was a kid again, I would've loved this as well. So happy to see a middle grade representing SE Asia and specifically Melayu people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism

jay_jade736's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I decided to bump it to 4.5 ⭐ after giving it a thoughtful reminiscing. It's truly a fun middle grade read.

 I was really fond of Pink and Suraya's friendship. When there was a debale between the two, I found myself being lenient to one over the other when the POV switches. As individuals, I really love them and can see myself being friends with them

 Jing is a fun side character. I do think that she's shallow compared to some other side characters in other books, she still is someone I have a sort of fondness over. She reminds me alot of Mei Mei in Upin and Ipin and I think the author draw inspiration from her

I also noticed a rather intriguing but peculiar writing style the author tends to add. "If you would listened carefully, you would have heard Pink buzz" (Not an actual sentence from the book)
At first I thought it was annoying and ruined the whole vibe of the book but as I read along and eventually being engrossed with the books sequence of events, the more I found it to be engaging. It then felt awkward in the ending parts as it wasn't utilised as much and when it was, it no longer has that nuance to it

Speaking of endings, this one crushed me. While I think it was cliché (the twist to be specific) I still found the departure of Pink and Suraya heartbreaking especially since that was the last time they could be together in the same physical space if that made any sort of sense

Overall, this was a fun read and a bug suggestion if you love to get to know more of Malaysia and it's culture

(Note: This has bullying, medical detail, murder and abandonment way detailed and explicit than what you'd normally expect from a middle grade book so read with caution)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

bexi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Stalking, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Torture

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

This is a very sweet (but also pretty scary in places!) novel about a young girl and her ghost friend. It's set in Malaysia and covers topics such as family secrets, loss of a loved one and what happens when your best friend suddenly makes a new friend. It's written in a really charming almost fairy tale style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Stalking, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Child death

Minor: Cannibalism, Murder, Vomit, and Cursing