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kle105's review against another edition
4.0
So many emotions in this book. Venus is a thirteen year old girl when she finds herself in Juvenile prison after killing her stepdad. She whites out the reason why and won't discuss it, and is sentenced to 5-7 years.
While she is standing trial her younger brother, who is "mentally challenged" is kidnapped. There are shifts and changes in who ends up caring for him, but Venus and his mother continue to try and find him.
When Venus is released she tries to start over, though she finds she can never let the past stay completely hidden. When a man shows interest in her, she doesn't know what to do as she has never been in a relationship.
The depth of this story is ever unfolding. So many ways to look at what happened and wonder if you would have done the same thing. Inez, the mother is not perfect but you start to feel bad for a her a little bit as you see more of her perspective.
In the end we are all just trying to get through life with as few major screw-ups as possible and hopefully come out of it unscathed. Beautifully written, very compelling and immediately draws you in.
I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
While she is standing trial her younger brother, who is "mentally challenged" is kidnapped. There are shifts and changes in who ends up caring for him, but Venus and his mother continue to try and find him.
When Venus is released she tries to start over, though she finds she can never let the past stay completely hidden. When a man shows interest in her, she doesn't know what to do as she has never been in a relationship.
The depth of this story is ever unfolding. So many ways to look at what happened and wonder if you would have done the same thing. Inez, the mother is not perfect but you start to feel bad for a her a little bit as you see more of her perspective.
In the end we are all just trying to get through life with as few major screw-ups as possible and hopefully come out of it unscathed. Beautifully written, very compelling and immediately draws you in.
I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ashify's review
2.75
While I lie there shivering, I remember how the planet Venus rotates backward as it orbits the sun, while Earth and most of the other planets rotate forward, in the direction they’re going. That’s how I feel, like all of a sudden my life is turning in the opposite direction of where I want to go.
My Name is Venus Black is a coming of age story which sets out a butterfly effect, touching a lot of lives, changing them in ways they never anticipated. Venus Black is 13 when she commits a crime and is convicted. And she blames it on her mother, Inez. Soon, her mentally challenged younger brother goes missing.
When she is out after five years, she wonders how long she can escape her past as her life goes unraveled in ways she never imagined.
ೃ⁀➷ My thoughts
This story was both plot & character driven. The pacing was not too fast or slow & it followed a very straight line. MC starts low, grows and learns her flaws and embraces them. That is the very straightforward plot that this story follows. But the character choice felt a bit unrealistic. Like I understood Venus, Leo & Inez. But I couldn’t understand what Tessa or Tony were trying to think.
Why would you just keep a child who is mentally challenged & his supposed father took off after dumping him on you? Just because your daughter who is 7, insisted?
Among the characters, I cared most about Leo, followed by Venus & Inez. I have a soft spot for Tessa but I couldn’t care much about Tony. It felt like I couldn’t somehow care for him. He went from being mention a few times to suddenly his story info-dumped.
The redemption in this story was well done. But still, it somehow felt short in my opinion. It started out well, but, just but.
Anyway, I feel I wasn’t the right person for this story. But it wasn’t that bad.
dorayanki's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
the plot was alright, it had snippets of when venus committed the crime, what she went through, what leo and inez all went through throughout the years with autism and the feelings of love and loss respectively. the book gave hope that one could eventually find their long lost family member even after years, and i am glad that the book ended on a happy note (though it might not be the case in most realities).
also, if the book had specified whose POV they were writing in at the moment, it would have made the book less confusing ~
also, if the book had specified whose POV they were writing in at the moment, it would have made the book less confusing ~
guillevaldata's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book surprised me a lot.
I use to read books without knowing the plot, but i heard this audiobook without ever hearing about it and the plot was sooo interesting and different from other books that i've read.
At first i was wondering if i would like the book because Venus was kinda annoying but the story develops beautifully, i got so attached to the characters and their development that i really felt that ending, right in my heart.
please do yourself a favor if you want to read a book that will leave you with mixed feelings, you'll be happy & sad at the same moment.
I use to read books without knowing the plot, but i heard this audiobook without ever hearing about it and the plot was sooo interesting and different from other books that i've read.
At first i was wondering if i would like the book because Venus was kinda annoying but the story develops beautifully, i got so attached to the characters and their development that i really felt that ending, right in my heart.
please do yourself a favor if you want to read a book that will leave you with mixed feelings, you'll be happy & sad at the same moment.
lmurray43's review against another edition
5.0
This is the story of Venus and what happens to her when she is 13 years old. It also tells the story of her brother Leo, her mom Inez and a girl we come to know Tessa. Venus kills her step father at the age of 13 and is sent to Juvie for 6 years so we get to see parts of what life is like for her. We also get to see what happens to her brother Leo who is 7 at the time and from what I gathered Autistic. Inez has to deal with what has happened to Venus and when Leo goes missing she has to deal with that as well. I was so intrigued with this story that I hated having to put it down to go to work. I would recommend this book if someone is looking for a story that has you thinking and wondering "what if".
nikolinaza's review against another edition
4.0
Extremely heartwarming. Entah kenapa buku ini nggak banyak yang bahas.
vanessareadstoomuch's review against another edition
4.0
*3.75* this book was interesting. I picked it up on a whim at the library because I liked the cover and went in blind. So much heavier than I excepted. There’s something heartbreaking in each characters story. Made me think a lot about family and forgiveness.
abrooklynbookshelf's review against another edition
2.0
Sometimes when I'm reading a book I don't like I'll pop on here to scan the reviews and see if it's just me, or if other people are also feeling the same way I do...apparently I'm alone on this one and I'm heavily confused.
The writing was so simplistic. Everything was told, hardly anything was shown. Large chunks of time and activities were just skipped over in a sentence to keep the story moving, so any scenes that I felt like I actually might have wanted to be fleshed out just didn't exist. The voice switched so often but really kind of sounded the same for each character, and it was like a ten year old was narrating the story the entire time. And, each section ended with some sentence that was so obviously supposed to be "poignant" and the perfect note to end on, but I suh-ware ta gawd I rolled my eyes at every single one.
And then let's just talk about how every problem in the book that popped up was just magically fixed in two seconds or less because the characters are just always smart enough to figure these things out. It made all of the conflict so uninteresting to read because I had the information as the reader, and I wanted to see the characters struggle through their lack of this information, but there was never any true struggle.
And finally, (and maybe this is smart because it's 100% the only reason I kept reading this book at all), you have to read the entire damn book to figure out the events of the heavily alluded to night that occurs on page one. PAGE ONE. I am allllll for not giving away everything up front, but if this event is going to open the book AND you're going to allude to it on every other page, we deserve to know more before the last page, and it definitely needs to be revealed in a much more dynamic way than it was.
So, yeah. Thems be my true feelings. I never want to read this book again. Sorry bout it.
The writing was so simplistic. Everything was told, hardly anything was shown. Large chunks of time and activities were just skipped over in a sentence to keep the story moving, so any scenes that I felt like I actually might have wanted to be fleshed out just didn't exist. The voice switched so often but really kind of sounded the same for each character, and it was like a ten year old was narrating the story the entire time. And, each section ended with some sentence that was so obviously supposed to be "poignant" and the perfect note to end on, but I suh-ware ta gawd I rolled my eyes at every single one.
And then let's just talk about how every problem in the book that popped up was just magically fixed in two seconds or less because the characters are just always smart enough to figure these things out. It made all of the conflict so uninteresting to read because I had the information as the reader, and I wanted to see the characters struggle through their lack of this information, but there was never any true struggle.
And finally, (and maybe this is smart because it's 100% the only reason I kept reading this book at all), you have to read the entire damn book to figure out the events of the heavily alluded to night that occurs on page one. PAGE ONE. I am allllll for not giving away everything up front, but if this event is going to open the book AND you're going to allude to it on every other page, we deserve to know more before the last page, and it definitely needs to be revealed in a much more dynamic way than it was.
So, yeah. Thems be my true feelings. I never want to read this book again. Sorry bout it.
gabizago's review against another edition
5.0
It’s been a while since I last really enjoyed a new YA book. My name is Venus Black is such a moving story. I like the way the story unfolds slowly, and little by little you understand what happened. They don’t deliver the whole story all at once - you get to unfold it chapter by chapter, year by year. Even though the story is actually pretty engaging, there are some drawbacks as well. They keep changing the narrator, which is kind of confusing at some parts. And for me, it feels like a YA book for adults, since the story might be a little bit too complicated for teenagers to fully understand. At least I feel I wouldn’t understand it completely if I were like 12 or 13 years old. Overall, it’s my favorite book in 2018 so far.
hettyp91's review
4.0
Didn’t know what to expect but pleased with what I found. Heartwarming, family focussed drama with a dip into mental disabilities, crime and lost loves.