Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

14 reviews

sabs98's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was so wonderfully written. The author's skillfulness in painting a portrait of each character is amazing; she does this by switching points of view to show the sisters from all perspectives and by describing memories of their pasts that arise as they are navigating new and uncomfortable situations on the pilgrimage together. The most compelling thing about this story is how real and relatable everything is to me as a child of immigrants: everything including their experiences of their ancestral land after having grown up in the West, the pressure and guilt unintentionally imposed on second-generation kids when they fail to meet even the smallest of their parents expectations, the anger and shock at the harmful and unjust patriarchal ways that pervade every part of life. Each sister carries childhood trauma, and the ways in which it plays out in their adult lives makes sense. The author is able to connect everything together so well, every character and every minor plot point has a sensible purpose. Balli Kaur Jaswal might just be my favorite author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abortion, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Police brutality

Minor: Alcoholism

jordan_noel's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

4.25

I was expecting this book to be about three sisters reuniting while grieving over their newly-deceased mother. I was not expecting so many important societal issues to follow.

This book talks about the patriarchy (specifically in India), MeToo and women's rights movements, female feticide, marriage, spirituality, and how to connect and adapt to different situations in order to preserve the most important relationships.

I loved these characters and grew closer to them as they slowly learned to trust one another and deconstruct the difficulties of their childhoods together. The only real flaw to me was that the characters didn't feel entirely real as they began to transition into a better relationship with each other. It was close, but just not quite there I don't think.

Overall, I thought this book was great and necessary for anyone learning to sacrifice a bit of their pride to repair lost connects with people they love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Abortion, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality, Rape, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

There is a section of the book (maybe 1 page detailing the event and 10 pages mentioning it) about police brutality. In this same area, a group of girls recite sexual assault statistics and detail a rape that occurred recently in a major city---it's very news-like. One character has an alcohol dependency, but it's only really mentioned in the first third of the book and she's making efforts to escape it from the time we know her. One character is in a toxic relationship and experiences emotional and physical abuse. There are heavy instances of misogyny and sexual harassment for the characters once they're in India.

Additionally, a big theme of the novel is women being forced to abort female fetuses in traditional Indian families.

Several characters get pregnant and one experiences multiple miscarriages. The book starts with the characters losing their mother to cancer. The daughters grieve their mother throughout the story as they fulfill her final wish for them.

drawmeabookreview's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Gaslighting and Infertility

Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Suicide

suz_n_van's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Abortion, and Suicide

saliwali's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Suicide, Abortion, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Medical content, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Mental illness, Animal death, Bullying, and Grief

emmsco's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, and Abortion

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Miscarriage

zomigi's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide, Infertility, and Miscarriage

sahanasri's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

The ending of this book felt like a hug and I really didn’t want it to end! The Shergill sisters are so relatable and funny, and each of their struggles really helped illuminate issues in our culture that I see as well as within my own family. Their relationships to each other are so complex and heartwarming - I wish I could step into the book and give each of them a hug. The mysteries of this book were so compelling and really kept me reading because I felt so connected to the characters. brb gonna go CRY

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Pregnancy

scocco32's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Abortion

readingvoyage's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

When a Punjabi-born woman is on her deathbed, she asks her three British daughters to make a pilgrimage to India to scatter her ashes. 

 

The sisters do not get along and have plenty of secrets. Their bickering seemed realistic (and I’m now grateful how well I get along with mine). As the story progresses they open up to each other and mend their relationships. While I understood each daughter, I can’t say that I liked them very much. By the end of the story, I didn’t like the mother either. 

 

Throughout the book, there are hints of the secrets, and this was very effective at keeping me interested and vested in the novel. At times, I wondered why certain scenes were written in so much detail, but it all became apparent in the end. 

 

I have travelled extensively though India, and have even visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar (although things have changed a lot as we were the only non-Sikh foreigners visiting that day). However, there were plenty of things I could relate to: Tom Hanks the driver, the menu which doesn’t have half the offerings, and the description of the river at the end). 

 

The audiobook narration is absolutely fantastic. I think it was a better experience than if I had read the book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide