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A review by moserk
The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
Love the premise - YA read with big themes and their intersectionality:
- immigrants/immigration
- LGBTQIA identities and their acceptance/lack thereof
- familial roles
- medical/healthcare ethics,
but execution fell short of my high hopes + left me wanting more. That said, really happy to know this exists in YA.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia