Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Things She's Seen

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

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

6 reviews

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.

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awkwardimagination's review

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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.

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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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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