Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

26 reviews

mads1706's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Terminal illness, Death, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Dementia, Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Violence, and War

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

A perfect book. Beautifully interwoven family story spanning about 50 years. I can’t find the words for how much I loved this. Read it immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Torture, Death, and Sexual content

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.5

My second book from Alyan and loved it! Her writing style and characters are always beautifully done with lyrical prose. I enjoyed the switching POVs going through time from the 60s to 2014 as we follow one family. Alyan will definitely be an auto buy author for me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Dementia

Moderate: Sexual content, Genocide, and Body shaming

Minor: Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Racism

perfectplaces's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

5.0

“I wake up and it feels like my lungs are dropped in ice and I have to count, one two three four, listen to myself taking in air. Sometimes I wonder if this is really the waking world: coffee in a red mug, three children sleeping in three rooms, the television blaring in the background.”

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hala alyan gets it. like i simply cannot stress enough how much she gets it. 

this reminds me of khaled hosseini’s and the mountains echoed which is a book i love for its form if not for its content. except salt houses has much more heart and nuance to its portrayal of war and conflict and cyclical trauma and identity and exile than any of hosseini’s books. like mountains, a lot of the reviews for this book complain about its style of incorporating short vignettes from different povs that make up a multi generational story. but like. i like that. i think it’s fun and good and i just love the yacoub family so much (atefTT_TT) and i started to see myself and the people i know in all of them. so i don’t rly agree with any of the reviews saying we didn’t have time to get to know the characters like yes. we did. the girls that get it get it. 

anyway this is a new favorite and i think i will recommend forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Dementia, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Grief, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Fatphobia

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

emerynmader's review

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Fatphobia, Grief, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Torture, and Sexual content