Reviews tagging 'Grief'

When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw

6 reviews

mylovelybookstack's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I literally cried every few page. Such well written, bittersweet book. I loved every moment with this one even though it was also a hard story. The storytelling was grounded and the dual pov was handled really skilfully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Grief, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

bruhbruh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Excrement, Grief, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

fenouil's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Terminal illness, Homophobia, and Violence

rondasue27's review

challenging emotional hopeful slow-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

#bookreview When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw 

🤔where did ya come from?🤷🏼‍♀️
- The publisher was kind enough to gift me an eARC of this book via NetGalley. 

😍the good stuff😍
- This book is historical fiction for the gays and everyone who has ever cared about them. I don’t know what I was expecting going into this book, but I can’t believe the impact it’s left on me. 
- Ben and Adam have such different stories and I enjoyed both of them. They both made me cry. They both left me with a hopeful feeling for them. I was frustrated at the beginning that they seemed to have nothing to do with each other, but after finishing, I really love how the author crafter the twin timelines. 
- Gil. What a great brother. 
- Rebecca. What a fantastic woman. 
- Lily. Best. Just the best best. 
- Jack and Victor. Gayfathers every kid deserves. 

🫢my complaints🤫
- It takes a while to get into this book. Not because it isn’t good, but it’s just a little confusing at first with the different POVs that don’t interact for a while. 
- Calling this YA is really impossible to encompass what this book really is. Historical fiction. A mini history lesson. A heartbroken man. There’s just so much in this book. 

⚠️the warnings⚠️
- It’s YA so there’s no explicit sex at all, but there is discussion of AIDS and safe sex practices and grief/mourning and death. 

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, and Death

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

All flowers do is die, Adam thinks. You buy them because they are beautiful, but as soon as you bring them home, you realise that they have already begun to die. Swiftly, or slowly, it doesn’t matter. They only die, and all you can do is watch.

When You Call My Name is a story of two teenage boys, coming of age in New York City in 1990. It’s a story of angst, tragedy, sickness, violence, loss; but also one of hope, community, adventure, love. The two protagonists, Ben & Adam, fates elegantly intertwined, navigate coming to terms with their sexualities, relationships and futures in a disapproving society plagued by the shadow of HIV/AIDS. It is an ugly portrait of the withering reality of the disease and the grief it wrought, while displaying the strength and bravery of the queer communities that came together in solidarity and love in spite of it.

Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, this novel is a delight to read and carries an important piece of history within it. The author’s note at the end really wrapped it up in such a beautiful way, providing personal experiences from Shaw himself that allow you to see his point of view.

If you wait, if you stand still, if you watch and maybe listen, too, then you start to see all the layers and textures and movements and messages. You see all these colours start to emerge from the grayness. Vibrant, alive, just waiting to be seen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Outing, and Physical abuse

literarycavy's review

challenging emotional sad medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Medical content