Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

7 reviews

andloveistoolong's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, Dementia, Ableism, Cancer, Classism, Gore, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Abortion, and Terminal illness

treeworms's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Islamophobia, and Deadnaming

reeseyyy's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

The main reason I enjoyed this book was because I love love love the way Shaun David Hutchinson writes his books. The way they tell a story is absolutely beautiful.

Only reason the star rating is 3.0 is because I did not like Freddie all that much.

She did not deserve to be with Elena in the end, however they were still cute:)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

bluejayreads's review

emotional slow-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

I picked this up because it was immediately available at the library and a long time ago (I don’t know how long, but I haven’t been on Goodreads in a year and a half) someone I followed on Goodreads had loved it. So I grabbed it, more because it was available than from any strong desire to read it. 

Looking at it from the outside I probably shouldn’t have liked it much. It’s very slow, with hardly anything in the way of plot, but I didn’t find the characters strong enough to call it character-driven either. A good seven hours of the nine-hour audiobook is Elena trapped in decision paralysis about whether she should do what the voices want or not. The plot is determined not to give her any information that would assist in that decision to force her to make it herself, which she was expending all her effort to avoid. If there weren’t so many interpersonal things happening between characters, it would have dragged a lot. 

The characters do all have good character arcs though, so maybe you could call it character-driven for that. Elena’s love interest Freddie had the strongest arc in my opinion. Elena herself and her best friend also felt like they had some kind of good arc, but I’m not entirely sure I could put into words what it was. Even Elena’s mother and ex-boyfriend got arcs, albeit smaller, simpler ones. 

Looking at it from this review, you might think this is a boring book. But weirdly, it’s not. By all rights it should have been – it’s very slow, all Elena’s attempts to learn more about plot-related things are foiled, she spends the vast majority of the book avoiding the one decision she has to make. But somehow, I liked it. Elena was relatable in her fear of making the wrong decision, the complexity of the relationships between characters was good, there was enough magic to satisfy my fantasy love while still having a very contemporary vibe. I can’t really tell you why, but I did enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child abuse

eve_o's review

mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide

starlessnights's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

raspberryroyal's review

reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Deadnaming, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

Came for a book with good interracial wlw rep, ended up with a very contemplative novel about free will and consent. The story eventually picks up to a satisfying conclusion, but it takes 300/370 pages to get there. I'm told that some of this author's other books are better (specifically We Are The Ants) but this one was such a slog to get through that I'm still considering throwing him on my personal author blacklist.