Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

5 reviews

summerb's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, War, Bullying, Cancer, Infidelity, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Classism, Colonisation, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Genocide, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

orireading's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was disappointing :// pretty predictable storyline and one-dimensional protagonist. There were a few beautiful scenes but it mostly read like fan fiction. It was interesting to learn more about Lakota culture tho!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Gun violence, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, War, Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, and Incest

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

davidbythebay's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

I have a hard time with mystery and thriller books. Often I find them predictable and slow. Not here. Yes, I did guess a few twists but not anything major. That alone impressed me. But further than that, I found the writing accessible and clear. I struggled with some of the Lakota words and would have liked a pronunciation guide and glossary, but that’s me. They were defined either directly or contextually which was enough to know what was going on. 

The writing was fast paced and flowed so beautifully. It was rich and I could see and smell and taste and hear everything Virgil Wounded Horse and the other characters experienced. It was so beautifully done. 

I would like to see the author write more in this world with these characters. (Prequels? Sequels? Just tangential loosely related novels? Whatever.) The ending is open for further stories just enough to be enticed. And the definitive fates of certain characters are not known and I would like to see what happened there, but I am sufficiently happy with how it was all handled. Not every string needs a bow, just a loose knot is enough. 

I am always interested in the spiritual aspects of different cultures and religions. This had such a beautiful amount of spiritual events that I will absolutely be reading more about these and other Indigenous peoples. I thought it was not only a wonderful look into a culture that is generally glossed over in white American schools, but also a history that is seldom told. I learned about the Battle of Little Big Horn in school and that there were numerous casualties with the Indigenous population suffering great losses. I never heard the perspective of it being a genocidal slaughter like it is expressed here. I had my hunches, but never knew about these events enough. I’ve always wanted to read more Indigenous history and culture and now I am excited to begin soon. 

I highly recommend reading this is you love mysteries, thrillers, family dramas, and even justice and philosophical texts as there is enough to discuss and explore more. And that feeling of joy and wanting to explore topics more is the highest praise I think a book can ever be given. Five stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

jourdanicus's review

hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was everything I want in a crime thriller, without any of the tired tropes that make me end up avoiding crime thrillers even though I tend to want to read them. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a medium to fast paced crime drama - if you can stomach descriptions of violence and fighting, I think it's worth it because this story involves bad guys coming to justice in really satisfying ways. As a final note I really appreciated the author's writing of the characters overall - they were believable and sympathetic - but especially the women characters. I typically avoid fiction written by men because of too many bad experiences with the way women characters were written, but Weiden's female characters were fully developed, not just accessories to the vigilante male protagonist. Much respect to this author and I look forward to future works by him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, and Grief