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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'
La natura della grazia by Alessandro Zabini, William Kent Krueger
7 reviews
kris_tea516's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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? No
5.0
Synopsis: Frank Drum is 13 yo in small town, New Bremen, MO in 1961. His father is a well-loved pastor in town, his mom is artistic & admired, his talented older sister is bound for Juliard, & his younger brother with a stutter is socially awkward but wise & virtuous. Frank is a bit of a rebel. He causes, he isn't afraid to bend the rules, & isn't sure he really believes in the God his father preaches about. His life seems pretty ordinary until then death of a young boy he knew. As the summer progresses, more deaths occur that lead to families lives being tragically upended, secrets exposed, & the hunt for a murderer. This story is a mystery & a coming-of-age tale about a young boy moving from the innocence and sense of stability of childhood to the mature and chaotic reality of adulthood while his world is falling apart. Frank must face the reality that everyone has secrets & battles they are fighting and his own questions of does God exist &, if so, where is he in the midst of tragedy & chaos?
Review: This book immediately surprised me with how well it iwaswritten & my interest in the story never waned. Krueger painted his world so beautifully with his words that I felt like I was walking the roads of New Bremen with Frank & Jake in the hot sun.
The characters are diverse and while some are easy to love & others easy to hate or at least be suspicious, we find out that people are much more complicated that they seem at first. It is convicting to think about the people you interact with in your own life that maybe you should show a little more grace & patience especially toward those who seem especially trying.
The themes of grief, innocence lost, bullying, prejudice/racism, mental health, disabilities, friendship, forgiveness, family relations, respect, patience, kindness, community, faith, & the complexities of people are masterfully fleshed out. Some topics are only addressed adjacently but feel leave you contemplating the situation long after you’ve put the book down or paused the recording.
Krueger is an exquisite author & I will definitely be looking for more books he has written. I highly recommend this book anyone high school age & older.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
your_geekygf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Car accident, and Alcohol
besidemyshelf's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
antidietleah's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
glitterdeww's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
It took me awhile to write this review because there were a number of aspects I wanted to fully digest before getting into it. Unlike most of my reviews, there will be spoilers ahead.
The response to this novel is overwhelmingly positive, and I firmly believe that I understand why... However 😅... I have a few criticisms. I think there are notable issues with this plot that I have rarely seen discussed, and I think I can mostly pin down the reasons why. So here we go...
I'm rating this 3.5 stars because, even with my criticisms, I enjoyed this and couldn't put it down after I was about 60% through it. So I will give it credit where credit is due. The author's creation of atmosphere is superbly done. I felt wrapped up in this book, like I could feel, smell, and taste just about every moment of the story. The focus on setting slows the pace of the novel, but it is done so well that I can't fault the decision. A+ on that aspect. Also the pivotal characters of the story as a whole felt very individual and realistic. I believe both the narrator, Frank, and his younger brother are an accurate depiction of adolescence maturing quickly in the face of violence.
But that said, there were hangups I had with the characters and the plot points of the novel. First off, the ways in which information was aquired in order to further the plot of the story through the eyes of these young boys felt like a big stretch. There were too many instances in which eavesdropping and happenstance are employed to further the plot through the eyes of these young boys. There's way too much luck happening there to be believable...
Though perhaps it's not supposed to be luck, but rather divine intervention. Like in one particular scene, where Frank seems to see the shadow of the church pointing directly at him. The end results of his decision to then go into the church and eavesdrop are a whole different matter than I'll mention later... because, woof, that was an unnecessary trope to throw in here.
I know that this is set in the 1960s and in a small town in Minnesota. I get it, and I understand what the culture of that small town would inherently look like. I also understand that a main focus of the plot centers on a lot of Christian spirituality. The problem I encountered surrounding these aspects was the way in which this cast of characters was so skewed.
There was not a single non-white, queer, or disabled / differently-abled character in this story who was not relegated to a tragic side character or a "villain." Not a single one. Even the young boy who died prior to the events of the story was talked about using the R slur, and was said to be simple-minded. Ariel was born with a facial deformity. Why was that even there? She could have had anything to do with her that meant she could have been called names, but it had to be a deformity? And then she, like Morris Engdhal because he was tragic too, became even more otherized through her actions. And then there was the kill-your-gays trope... As soon as that character came out I knew he was going to kill himself. There was zero question in my head. And that death was a direct result of Frank eavesdropping. The resulting blame was barely even acknowledged, not for Frank and Jake and not for the gossiping teenage-brained police officer who was never held accountable for shit the entire novel. Unsurprisingly... And finally, there's Jake. The ordinary act of grace is that his stutter goes away... He loses his disability, an overall positive effect on his life to be sure, and that is the signifier of his either new found or reborn belief in God. So at the end, he is no longer one of the tragic group, for THAT reason alone.
Their storylines are dictated based on tropes that are so tired and overdone. I was truly surprised to see the events laid out the way that they were and very few reviews acknowledge it. But as I said before, I feel like there's an obvious answer as to why. I am not the demographic of person whom would be the typical audience for this book. I think the typical audience for this sort of story looks far more like Frank and his living family... Straight, white, traditional, and masculine. The more someone's character, in the novel, became otherized from that demographic, the greater the degree their character would suffer. This was one of the main reasons that the plot was so easy to guess, because it's such a subversive tactic. And I'm very frustrated because I'm certain that so many people who praised themselves for guessing the things that we're going to happen next DID NOT notice that. Not because they couldn't, but because it's so ingrained in our culture to do that to certain types of characters. And what that does is further stereotypes. Which is tired and boring and lazy.
And yet, what did I say at the beginning.... I think I did like this story. Because everything else was done well enough. It's just written for people who wouldn't be bothered by it's messaging.
The response to this novel is overwhelmingly positive, and I firmly believe that I understand why... However 😅... I have a few criticisms. I think there are notable issues with this plot that I have rarely seen discussed, and I think I can mostly pin down the reasons why. So here we go...
I'm rating this 3.5 stars because, even with my criticisms, I enjoyed this and couldn't put it down after I was about 60% through it. So I will give it credit where credit is due. The author's creation of atmosphere is superbly done. I felt wrapped up in this book, like I could feel, smell, and taste just about every moment of the story. The focus on setting slows the pace of the novel, but it is done so well that I can't fault the decision. A+ on that aspect. Also the pivotal characters of the story as a whole felt very individual and realistic. I believe both the narrator, Frank, and his younger brother are an accurate depiction of adolescence maturing quickly in the face of violence.
But that said, there were hangups I had with the characters and the plot points of the novel. First off, the ways in which information was aquired in order to further the plot of the story through the eyes of these young boys felt like a big stretch. There were too many instances in which eavesdropping and happenstance are employed to further the plot through the eyes of these young boys. There's way too much luck happening there to be believable...
I know that this is set in the 1960s and in a small town in Minnesota. I get it, and I understand what the culture of that small town would inherently look like. I also understand that a main focus of the plot centers on a lot of Christian spirituality. The problem I encountered surrounding these aspects was the way in which this cast of characters was so skewed.
Their storylines are dictated based on tropes that are so tired and overdone. I was truly surprised to see the events laid out the way that they were and very few reviews acknowledge it. But as I said before, I feel like there's an obvious answer as to why. I am not the demographic of person whom would be the typical audience for this book. I think the typical audience for this sort of story looks far more like Frank and his living family... Straight, white, traditional, and masculine. The more someone's character, in the novel, became otherized from that demographic, the greater the degree their character would suffer. This was one of the main reasons that the plot was so easy to guess, because it's such a subversive tactic. And I'm very frustrated because I'm certain that so many people who praised themselves for guessing the things that we're going to happen next DID NOT notice that. Not because they couldn't, but because it's so ingrained in our culture to do that to certain types of characters. And what that does is further stereotypes. Which is tired and boring and lazy.
And yet, what did I say at the beginning.... I think I did like this story. Because everything else was done well enough. It's just written for people who wouldn't be bothered by it's messaging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Religious bigotry
kimveach's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
An excellent coming-of-age story about a young man and a summer of deaths.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Death of parent
pagesandplannersabroad's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
This is a brilliant coming of age story. The narrator, 13-year old Frank, learns about a lot about life over the course of the summer. The author has captured life in a small town in Minnesota perfectly. It is set in the summer of 1961. Highly recommend. I think this is going to be in my favorite books for 2021.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Suicide attempt