Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

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

4 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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Content Warnings

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

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. 

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

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

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.5

The mystery storyline of this book was great and kept the plot moving, but I also loved that the mystery wasn’t the point of the book. Its significance lay in its exposure of the brutality of colonisation, and its beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of grief. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Medical content, Drug use, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Self harm

Colourism, the Stolen Generations, police corruption

ashleycmms's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Vomit