Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

269 reviews

elisalasater's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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

3.75


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carlyoc's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

Inspired by the true event of a passenger plane travelling between New York City and the Dominican Republic that crash landed in 2001, killing everyone on board.
This book is told in verse from two fictional point of view characters, a teenage girl in DR and one in New York who both lost a father on that flight. Although Camino and Yahaira have had very different upbringings in different countries, their grief brings them together and they soon realize they have even more in common. 
Not my usual genre and definitely emotional, but glad I read it. I had no idea about this second-most deadly plane crash in American history that occurred just a few months after 9/11. And that is part of Acevedo's reason for writing about it. The event rocked the worlds of the Dominican community but hardly made a dent in the mainstream news cycle after initial concerns that it was another terrorist attack were debunked. 

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specklecommittee's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.0


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zikeyag's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Loved this story! This was a story of two teenage girls who lost their father but knew nothing of one another. It details their journey through the grief process and finding out that their father had secrets. It was heart wrenching . They eventually come together and connect as sisters. I was sad for it to end but joyful for their new beginning. 

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_ging's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0


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kaelynmerrithew's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5


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mollyb13's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

5.0

This book was a beautifully heartbreaking look at grief and dealing with the outing of long-kept family secrets. Camino and Yahaira were both such real and well-developed characters and I felt so deeply for them both. My only issue with this book was that I struggled a bit with the writing - I'm not used to reading in verse and this may have been smoother on audio. 

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

💬:“& although most people here won’t admit they 
think like me, 
a woman should be able to sell whatever she wants 
to sell. 
But not if it’s at the insistence of a man. This man."

Acevedo, Elizabeth. Clap When You Land (p. 46). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fiction, teens, young adult, contemporary, LGBT, realistic fiction, poetry

📚Page Count: 424

🎧Audiobook Length: 05hrs 32mins

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

TW -
sexual assault, stalking, parental death, plane crash


Clap When You Land is a young adult fiction story written in verse by Elizabeth Acevedo. This story is heartbreaking and powerful, I cried more than once while listening to the audiobook. This story centers around two teen girls, Camino Rios & Yahaira Rios, who share the same father, but neither knows of the other girl's existence. Suddenly, when their father passes away in a plane crash, the two teens are left to deal with their father's secrets and each other. 

Elizabeth Acevedo definitely has a talent for telling stories in verse, her poetry is always beautiful and it flows so nicely. This story is based on a real life event that took place on November 12, 2001, when a flight taking off for the Dominican Republic crashed after take off in Queens, New York, killing a total of 260 people on the flight as well as 5 people on the ground. More than 90% of the passengers and victims were of Dominican decent. Here's apart of the author's note; 

"It completely rocked the New York Dominican community. It is the second-deadliest aviation crash in United States history."

Acevedo, Elizabeth. Clap When You Land (p. 420). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

Overall, I think this story was fantastic, heartbreaking, and moving. I will definitely be reading the rest of Acevedo's work.  I'm going to give this 5 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]

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amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Well that was beautifully, heart wrenching, and heart healing. In this book, We follow two POVs one a Dominican American teenager and the other a Dominican teenager. They live in two different places and are untied by one plane crash. I can't say enough how beautiful this book is. My heart broke for all the characters. the writing and pacing were stunning. I'm so glad I read it. 

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lorayne's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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