Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

18 reviews

robynjhip's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

Heartbreaking story that reminds you that we, as a society, have come so far yet still have a long way to go. My heart feels for Naomi and her siblings.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Child death, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Grief

maiakobabe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.75

This book carries a content warning for almost everything I'd usually warn for: sexual abuse of a minor, on page rape, anti-Black and anti-Mexican racism, threats of lynching, character death in a violent accident, torture, and on page murder of main characters.

The story centers around a real historical event, a gas explosion at a school in New London, East Texas, in 1937, which remains one of the deadliest school accidents to this day. The book opens with the aftermath of the event and lets you know right away that at least one of the main characters is dead. Then it winds back the clock and introduces Naomi, a Mexican American teen orphan, and her half-white younger twin siblings, who had been living with their grandparents until the twin's father summons them all to live in the deeply segregated oil town of New London. Naomi was sexually abused by her step-father as a young girl, and the threat of continued abuse hangs over for the whole story, as does the danger of racially charged violence. Amidst this grim setting, the siblings steal moments of tenderness and joy, playing in the woods around their house, delighting in books, and a friendship with a Black teen, Wash, from a nearby community. When Naomi and Wash begin to fall in love, their happiness feels as fragile as soap bubble. But it is a bubble that might contain a whole life time's worth of passion and joy, even if it cannot last. This is a devastating book, unflinching in it's depiction of racism and violence. But I found myself reminded of In The Dreamhouse another book about very hard topics which is nevertheless still a pleasure to read because the writing is so strong. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, and Racism

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

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

sarahlk17's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, and Racism

drshelbenstein's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Child death, and Rape

Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault

This book really makes me think critically about the line between historical drama and trauma porn because this novel is surely skirting that line.

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

raethereviewer's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

I read this for my young adult fiction class. It wasn't an enjoyable reading experience for me and I'm just going to list out some of my general thoughts about the novel:

It feels weird classifying this as young adult, especially with some of the explicit content. I honestly don't think this would be good for anyone under 16.

I don't think I've ever hated a fictional character as much as I hate Henry.

This book had no business being this long. It honestly dragged for most of the novel and if I didn't have to write a paper on it for class, I simply wouldn't have finished it.

Things started to get interesting in that last section. Still hated it though.

There was so much trauma for trauma sake in this novel. I get that it's historical fiction. I get that it tackles tough issues. But there has to be a limit, right?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racism, Child abuse, Child death, and Murder