Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

8 reviews

laurareads87's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Beautiful, devastating, and brilliant. The Vanished Birds has a lot that I love: strong character development, an interesting multi-POV structure, and a clear anti-capitalist spirit.  This does not read like a debut novel; I can't wait to read more from Simon Jimenez.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Colonisation, Torture, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death, and Medical content

quinnjuliac's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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 incredible. Sweeping story of finding nonbiological family and the ties that bind us, in a dysphoric future where the earth has been obliterated by climate change and misuse, and other worlds are created and then colonized by capitalism. Really beautiful, highly recommend. The first half seems to be more about the dysphoric world created by the author and traveling through it, and the second half is really about relationships and the love we find and lose, and how worth it these losses are.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Slavery, Child abuse, Torture, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit

vsnuffles's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

"It felt like a funeral." - William Shatner describing his voyage to space in the Guardian. I read the article today and couldn't help being reminded of this book.

This was an excellent and incredibly depressing read. I recommend reading it with caution due to just how very sad it is - it's definitely worth it but you'll want to be ready for some self-care afterwards. Do not expect a happy ending unless you like being very sad.


More in-depth:
The world-building is excellent: it's such a well thought-out future setting and the details of it are so elegantly incorporated it never feels like too much or too little. The writing was so good it was almost poetic at times, it was quite beautiful and poignant. The characters are grey and interesting. You get to see how they impact each other and the book has an excellent way of zooming out through the first few chapters, expanding the world before it settles on a more continuous story. It is a very bleak story and world, quite dystopian in a way that would feel cyberpunk if it were more focused on the digital world. Some mild spoilers for the tone of the ending/story overall:

I felt as though what hope there was for the characters was relentlessly crushed after being built up. To be fair, I think that this tone is set up well in the first chapter. But it is common for stories to pick up after tragedy and I would argue this one does not really pick up by the end in tone and the dystopian society is only more dystopian by the end.

If I had to say the story has a theme woven throughout I would have to say it is about cruelty and exploitation of humans through colonialization and capitalism. There is plenty more going on in the very well written characters, how they are shaped by their traumas in good and bad ways and being able to see how they grow based on how they react to their circumstances.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Murder, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Deportation, Confinement, and Sexual content

kp_writ's review

adventurous mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

The kind of book that makes you feel like you accomplished something by finishing. And by that I mean it was dreadfully slow, and I had to work hard to keep my interest and understand the perspective shifts (that were confusing whether they happened chapter by chapter or paragraph by paragraph or towards the end even sentence by sentence). I'm very glad to have read it, and I think it's a book I may return to eventually for a reread, but it is not an easy read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Colonisation, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Dementia, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicide attempt

astroprojection's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

johannab's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

internationalreads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

 - I do not know how to properly review THE VANISHED BIRDS, a book that burrowed deep into my heart right from the opening pages.
- Yes, it is an inventive adventure across time and space, but it's also a tender exploration of trauma and of found family.
- Also, it doesn't say it in the synopsis, but queerness is quite embedded in this story, and in such a loving way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Violence