Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

5 reviews

ginkgogirl's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Pedophilia

sydoodle's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

This is one of my favorite books of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content

bringmybooks's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

tl;dr → as a middle grade novel, this would have been fantastic

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗬𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦 ✨

I loved the idea of this novel, I loved the characters, I loved the island setting, I …. liked the book okay enough. 

That being said, I truly don’t think it should have been marketed for adult readers. 

Hear me out! Every element that felt weaker could have been stayed exactly the way they were if the elements around the children and the original book series had been emphasized. (For example, a lot of the relationships and interactions between the adults seemed oversimplified in ways that I would have expected from books geared towards a younger audience.)

I think that the pure simplicity of loving books and how much magic books hold for us will make this book work for a lot of people, and there are parts that brought a huge smile to my face, but it just missed the mark a bit overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Addiction, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

kitausu's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

This book had me crying by page 16 and kept me emotional throughout the entire thing. What an absolute lovely gut punch of a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, and Medical content

gummifrog's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? Yes

4.25

The Wishing Game is delightfully whimsical. Lucy, the main character goes on an adventure where the stakes are real and adult, the character development comes from trauma being realized and worked through, understanding that the bravery to overcome your fears can be something that comes from within.  

The prose is easy to read and inventive in its use of metaphor, and made me feel very nostalgic for the feel of books I read as a child.  The games within were riddles and puzzles which were fun to try and figure out on my own as I read - just like I used to as a kid!  I adored this interactive aspect and thought the author executed it brilliantly.

The relationships feel so real and fleshed out, and all the characters are very witty and playful with each other.  This works so well between Lucy and Christopher, the child she wishes to adopt, with their banter really showing a closeness and understanding between them.  And it also works great in scenes between Lucy and Hugo, whose flirtations always brought a smile to my face.  

The only place the character writing fell flat for me was when, every once in a while, Lucy would get inordinately angry at some perceived slight and fly off the handle at another character, only to want to immediately apologize the next scene.  It felt like it was a bit of emotional up-and-down just for the sake of it.  But it wasn't enough to sour the book for me overall, just a small nitpick.

Also: I saw another reviewer being icked out by the age difference between Lucy and Hugo, her love interest, but she is 26 and he is 34, so only an eight-year difference between two consenting adults (albeit they met once, only very briefly, when she was 13, and nothing untoward occurred).  This book is very romance-lite, with the two characters mostly connecting emotionally over their similar trauma and love of art.  Do with that information what you will.

The happy ending was extremely heartwarming.  I flew through this book which surprised me, since I tend to like more fantasy in my literary fiction!  Highly recommend for anyone who needs a hopeful, positive book with a bit of substance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt