Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Go as a River by Shelley Read

29 reviews

maryfranvs's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Hate crime, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Car accident, Chronic illness, Sexism, Miscarriage, Drug use, War, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Sexual content and Infertility

sophiafpeach's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Pregnancy

Minor: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death, Death of parent, Violence, War, Murder, Racial slurs, Cursing, Animal death, and Grief

saramariebt's review

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, and War

nimeneth's review

emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

This was a beautifully written book, and sometimes I felt like I could almost smell Colorado (and never having visited, either), but pretty scenery and writing don't make a great book.

It was solidly good, definitely a moving exploration of grief and forgiveness and moving on. I'm not really happy with the overall portrayal of men - all of them were either basically all good or all bad when they were more than just a name on a page like most of the Iola townsfolk were, and black and white viewpoints don't always make for great reading. I did like Victoria's work on the peach farm, when it was mentioned upon, and the fact that a menagerie of animals kept popping up in the background made it feel a little real. But honestly, nothing much happens, and especially in the first quarter or so, Victoria reads like an observer in her own life. I'm glad she found a little more agency. I do wish part 3 hadn't skipped over a full decade, and that the ending had actually added a little more, but I'm not disappointed with having taken the time with this one.

Also, why did we learn so much about the men in Victoria's life (Cal, Og, Seth, her dad) when she basically stopped talking about all of them once they physically left the scene? They all get like one line of ending, and that's not even enough to tie up the loose ends that are still flapping around.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Death, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Sexism, Racism, and War

Minor: Sexual harassment, Car accident, and Miscarriage

sarahweyand's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

Every time I finish a book, my husband will always ask what it was about. This is one of the few books where my answer is "How much time do you have?"; it's near impossible to give an easy synopsis of what I read here, but I do know that I enjoyed it.

This was a book about many things: family, love, loss, motherhood, perseverance, survival. It made me think about a lot of big questions without posing them directly or giving me an answer. The prose was wonderful to listen to (I enjoyed the audiobook), and the atmosphere felt like a dappled summer day, which is a nice change given that it's snowing outside.

Pacing here was medium-slow, especially because it was hard to tell where the plot was going at times. But I was always interested in listening and I felt like I really cared about our protagonist. I also really, really liked where this book ended. Perfect choice.

I'd definitely pick up something else by Shelley Read and will look out for future releases of hers! Give this one a read if you like historical fiction and heavy slice-of-life, introspective novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Murder

mdavis26's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Addiction, Animal death, Miscarriage, Racism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Murder, War, Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy

miranda226's review

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

I wanted to like this book and had the plot been different I would have greatly enjoyed the style of writing. But I can’t excuse using the brutal murder of a Native man as a plot device to help the naive white woman main character grow, which honestly she doesn’t even have that much character growth afterward. I understand that this prejudice, racism and murder matched the time period - my problem with the novel is that it doesn’t feel like it was _this_ author’s story to tell.

Zelda is one of the only redeeming characters, and I would have been much more interested in hearing her story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent

reading_ladies_blog's review

emotional sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Bullying, Alcoholism, Grief, Misogyny, and Torture

alixcallender's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I have great affection for Victoria, and I loved the slow, reflective, mournful pacing. But I do take issue with a few things: 

- Far to many peach metaphors. We get it. 
- Where is Wilson Moon’s actual personality? 
- The near-end was overly fluffy and convenient. (Without giving anything away, I will just say that I am not convinced that Victoria could have imagined *that outcome* with such accuracy, nor do I believe that two people can glean such perfect and correct meaning from a pile of rocks.)

It was very much like Where the Crawdad’s Sing, so if you liked that story you’ll probably like this one too. It’s a poolside read. I read it quickly, and enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Abandonment, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Violence, Colonisation, Miscarriage, War, Sexism, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident, Body shaming, Infertility, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

jermangirl's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Drug use and Drug abuse