Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

19 reviews

aquamarinecadet's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

4.5

If you think you can stomach it, read it.

It's a horrible read, as many others have already pointed out, but I believe that the only way to bring stories like these, that tell of such gruesome, infuriating injustices, to light, to bring them Out of Darkness, is to read them. 
To carry with oneself all of the stories that have stayed in the dark for so long, in order to finally give them a voice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Grief, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Child death, Religious bigotry, Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

rachelschloneger's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, and Child death

Moderate: Miscarriage and Death of parent

bridgetlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is not for me. I appreciate that the author wanted to bring to light the horrific racism, sexism and abuse prevalent in the setting, but it was incredibly hard to read. So much darkness and no light. PLEASE check trigger warnings before picking this one up. It’s got them all, including graphic sexual assault descriptions, racist language, death, murder, guns, discrimination, assault, and more. Spoiler alert, they do not get out of the darkness. It’s all darkness. No light, no hope. The best thing I can say is

that the cat didn’t die (even though there were MULTIPLE graphic descriptions of threats against the cat. < /spoiler> I do not recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Abandonment, Rape, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, and Death of parent

craftyanty's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is dark and emotional, not a light read.  The school explosion was a small, gruesome part of the story which brings on the climax. Instead, it focuses on many different social issues as they would've displayed in the 1930s Texas and includes LOTS of triggers.  At times, events seemed like they didn't quite fit in the same story, but it was compelling enough to keep me listening. The author's note helped make the parts that seemed unrealistic more understandable. 

I feel like I'm all over the place with this book...
It's not quite 4-star read for me but 3 stars don't feel like enough either.  Part of me feels like the author chose the perfect title for this book, while another part of me feels like that title offers too much hope. Readers will understand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual violence, Bullying, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

schausjk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I read this book for Banned Books Week because it was the #4 most challenged book of 2021. The book itself tackles a lot of tough issues, but who picks up a book about a school explosion expecting it to be light? That being said, the author did a good job of mixing in moments of joy amidst the characters' terrible situations. The pacing itself was too slow for me, and I did put this book down for an extended period of time because of that, but now that I've finished it I do think that elements of this story really are going to stick with me going forward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Racism, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Child abuse

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Child death, Classism, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism

Minor: Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

A school explodes due to a gas leak

aqtbenz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Child death, Child abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Violence

lauren_rebecca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Child death, Bullying, and Death of parent

cass_lit's review against another edition

2.25

 am sorry, I know this is a beloved, well accoladed story but I could not get behind this. I absolutely understand the importance of looking at history and dark things because it is real and we have to address it so we can keep it from continuing.  And I’m not Mexican or Black so I’m not the one to listen to on this topic.  As much as I didn’t enjoy this book — I do not think it should be banned from schools. I’m only able to read and review this and think critically about it because I had open access to as many books as I wanted. 

The rest of this will contain spoilers because I don’t think it’s right for anyone to go into this not knowing, especially since it’s marketed at teens. 

This felt like trauma porn. Again, I know these things all really happened and it’s very privileged of me as a white woman in 2022 to say I didn’t enjoy reading about what a Mexican girl in 1937 went through. But this was one thing after another — she (a child) was sexually abused by her step father, she (a child) was raped by her step father, she (a child) was told by everyone in her town (including the pastor AND HER GRANDMOTHER) to marry her step father and be the step mother to her two half-siblings.  We were given the step father’s POV of him having extremely inappropriate thoughts about his step daughter (a child). We were given the POV of “the Gang,” who had not only VERY racist thoughts about Naomi, but also discussed wanting to rape her. There was stereotypical bullying, and then there was the much worse bullying because it was racist. There were even side stories of the lynching of Black men told I think as a warning because our main couple is interracial and the reader is supposed to remember that they couldn’t be together even if they ran away from all of the other bad stuff, but is never again addressed. There’s an explosion at the (white) kid’s school and instead of coming together in the face of a tragedy, there’s racism against a Black child. And a much less important issue, but the girl twin was a B R A T to Naomi, so

honestly I felt less bad about her dying than I would have it had been Naomi it Beto. That’s terrible to say, but we’d never once gotten her POV and I was numb by all the other terrible things by that point anyway.

  There were also a lot of derogatory terms used for Black people in this, which makes me uncomfortable when they’re not written by a Black author. 

It is one thing to read about history so it doesn’t repeat itself. It’s one thing to read about abuse and rape so that people (victims and survivors, not the bad guys) can find themselves in those stories or the writers can tell their stories for people to hear. Maybe for the intended, younger readers this will be helpful in understanding racism and classism and consent. I wasn’t that reader. The author’s note said she tried to balance all of these horrors with violence and connection, but I *personally* didn’t think they were at all equal. I appreciate and applaud the author’s strive to tell marginalized stories, but this one just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Homophobia

greeneyedrobin's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Murder, Racism, Violence, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Sexual content