Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

62 reviews

sbkennedy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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? No

2.5

While I think this book told a very powerful story on a topic more people should be educated about- I really didn't enjoy it that much. The first half of the book was very compelling, as it slowly became apparent how the story lines of our two main characters were going to intercept. However, by the second half of the book I wasn't enjoying the story at all. Rill's plot line becomes so unbearably sad I almost had to stop reading, and while it was meant to convey the horror of a situation real children were put through, it was almost enough to make me put the book down. Avery's story line is really what bothered me the most. I admired her determination to dig deeper into a potentially scandalous part of her family history, but I couldn't stand her character beyond that. Even after learning so much about her grandmother's past, she was still so blind to her own privilege I couldn't believe it.

When Avery says that she is going to take some time off from working with her father, and only run for congress "on her own merits" I knew she was never going to redeem herself as a character.

Her father is a LITERAL SENATOR that is OBVIOUSLY  going to provide her a massive advantage that she can never get rid of, no matter how much she wants to pretend she can. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Racism

lucy_shanners's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism and Self harm

keepsleep's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

nks93's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death of parent, and Alcohol

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Essentially this book, aside from the really upsetting atrocities committed against the children, is about a rich, well-connected white woman who can't fathom that people could be treated like objects to be bought and sold, as if she didn't grow up in a formerly Confederate state. The main present-day character and the author's note really show these women's privilege when they talk about how unbelievable the buying and selling of humans was during Georgia Tann's years of human trafficking, even though the institution of slavery was supported by law in the United States for hundreds of years.  Also, there was really no reason to use the g-slur repeatedly (and almost as an endearment?) for river-dwelling folk. The story was solid, but the writing wasn't for me. A whole lot of over-telling instead of showing and a simile in every third sentence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Racial slurs

spaghettireads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I know that people don’t read full captions, so I feel like I want to say off the top that I don’t think that I recommend this! It was a book club selection, and while it did provide a good discussion, I don’t think that any of us really loved this.

The sub-genre of historical fiction that generally features women looking away on the cover is not one that I usually reach for. While I did find the writing in this relatively engaging, and I did want to keep reading it to find out what the twist was at the end, I thought that the book had a lot of issues. Perhaps the fact that a real life historical tragedy has been written with the vibe of a mystery is the problem. As one of my friends pointed out, it felt as though just everything bad possible was happening to the characters.

And while I said that I was waiting for the final details to be revealed at the end, a lot of the book felt very predictable. My book club also talked about how the portrayal of people of colour, and mostly Black people in this story was pretty terrible.

So, as I said I wouldn’t recommend this. Thanks as always to my book club friends for a great discussion 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

kweaver_pdx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Trafficking

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death and Death of parent

finding_time_to_read's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

bexdubyah's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

emakay's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent