Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Things She's Seen by Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Ambelin Kwaymullina

21 reviews

tinypotato21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Child death, Medical content, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Violence, Death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

lucy_jan_smith's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? N/A

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

oofsharkz73's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This was my second reading of this book, and I wish I'd known how I felt about it the first time so I could compare how I felt then/now, but I only vaguely remembered reading it in the first place. I'd say it was worth reading again. It is a quick, heartfelt novel, centering around racism, murder, child abuse, and grief. The spirituality and symbolism is what draws you in and keeps you reading with The Things She's Seen. While I feel like with any other 'mystery' novel, the conclusion would have been obvious from the start, the symbolism with colors and crows and Fetchers from Catching's perspective keeps the mystery alive. At times the novel unravels in a rather convoluted manner, however I feel as though it was a great way to approach some of the darker secrets revealed in the novel. 

"...He'd say there was no such thing as monsters. There were ... But [we] had only seen the men." 

The story has the capability of moving you if you approach it with the right mindset, or if you enjoy a book that runs a little off skew to the typical mystery novel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Colonisation, Racism, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, and Death

skybluespines's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Deeply moving. This YA novel deals with such heavy topics skillfully and creatively. I have trauma around car accidents and death, and didn't realize that would be part of the story, but handled sensitively and was not as triggering as I thought it would be. The other (much heavier) topics in the book were also handled with beautiful sensitivity, giving voice to victims in a way that was artistic, for lack of a better word. Grateful for this read. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, Grief, Pedophilia, Torture, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Rape, Murder, and Kidnapping

awkwardimagination's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

This is an ghost story about grief and hope. It spans across the past and present to create this nonlinear, multigenerational story about Aboriginal women/girls. The beginning to middle was kinda mediocre - interesting but not anything great. The middle to end was were it started to hit and I started having fun (for lack of better word) with reading, sleuthing out the meaning behind Catching's story. Speaking of Catching, there is something special about her character that I love. She gets straight to the point and her chapters are written in a nontraditional way that reflects her personality well. Beth herself was kind of annoying at times, but it was forgivable considering her circumstances and wasn't something I hated. I liked this book much better than I thought I would despite the bland start because eventhough I was a little bored with it, it was still intriguing to read. I say give this a try if youre looking for something fast to read. Not something light, fast because this book is dark.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Death of parent, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction and Colonisation

jane_at_jam's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Addresses intergenerational trauma, First Nations peoples and stolen generations, ties the past with the present and ongoing racism, abuse and neglect.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Death, and Child death

allisonsmith120's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Colonisation, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, Car accident, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

euphemiajo's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, and Racism

rockyroadbutch's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

Incredible and emotional. Powerful. Using stories and colors, metaphors and realism to tap into core emotional experiences. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Colonisation, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Most of the story is told in metaphor, so very little is explicit. Fire and death are the most explicit.

tlaynejones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

5.0

This is an excellent YA novel. The story is a mix of mystery, culture, and an examination of grief. The story alternates between the pov of Beth and Catching. Beth is a sixteen year old mixed race Aboriginal girl who has died. Her white father, who is stuck in his grief, can still see her and speak with her, so she is avoiding ‘passing over’ to help him heal. Her father is a murder detective and has been sent to an outback town to investigate a suspicious fire. While he is investigating the fire, and the deaths associated with it, they meet Catching, a teen Aboriginal girl who has been through a horrible ordeal and may be the key to the mystery. Catching tells her story in a way that seems to be interpreted through Aboriginal understandings of the world. 

I really enjoyed this whole book. Beth’s pov and Catching’s pov were so different that it kept my attention, and the way they resolved those differences later was lovely. 

I was familiar with these authors (they are sister and brother) because they have written many picture books for young children. However, I will definitely look for other novel length works. I found the storytelling quite lovely, and so full of heart. 

This book has been released in the US with the title “The Things She’s Seen”. Since “Catching Teller Crow” is the perfect title for this novel I think that was a weird choice. 

Highly recommended.

Very vague CW spoilers below. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

There are big heavy topics in this novel. The crime they are investigating is Bad. Because much of the crime is described via a story based on Aboriginal legend the bleak horror is relayed through representation, without gory specifics. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Car accident, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Police brutality