Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

5 reviews

carlytenille's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and War

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

I went into this book with minimal knowledge about what I was getting in to. I knew Dalton had got great reviews for previous work, that this was about the bombing of Darwin during WWII, and that was pretty much it. I picked it up in an op-shop, because I needed something to read on a plane, and it looked interesting. 

Such a good choice. Despite the fact that there is a laundry list of content warnings (see below) and in the hands of another author this story might have been a psychological thriller, this is a beautifully written story about love and perseverance. There are no 'surprises' of the type I hate in thrillers, and the writing is poetic, veering in to magical realism. 

While I'd like to write a nuanced and informative review, I got to the end of the book and went 'wow'. Fabulous characterisation, a careful mix of cultural groups, amazing visceral descriptions of landscape,    a plot that meanders coherently and engagingly, beautiful writing. I can see this being a book that gets taught in schools, because there is so much to unpack, so much imagery and interesting parallels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Racial slurs, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse and Racism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

My notes while writing this read: death of parent, grave robbing, physical and emotional abuse of child, racism, period typical slurs, implications of sexual violence (not clear if rape), alcoholism, drug use, physical violence between adults, mentions of sex work, being on the ground in a bombing raid plus the aftermath (including dismembered bodies), abandonment of a minor, attempted murder, attempted rape, drowning, murder (graphic), eye damage and other dismemberment due to leprosy plus forced institutionalism of lepers, delirium tremendous, infected wound (graphic description), possible abandonment of child, mentions of suicide,

isabelv928's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

This book was super weird, but I ended up really liking the weird. It definitely hits on a lot of very serious issues, but it also highlights some really beautiful topics. I loved the incorporation of Indigenous Australian culture, as well as depictions of Darwin/surrounds. The gravedigger girl really captured my heart by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

This entire book contains fairly intense content of different types and I would definitely recommend considering the content warnings before going into it.

margeaux_lily's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Beautiful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I struggled to enjoy the first third of the book - way too dark, graphic and bleak for me. Most of it felt unnecessary and heavy handed, and I think Dalton could have started the book around page 200, but I was glad I pressed on if only to be transported into the magic of the outback for the rest of the book! And honestly, all these characters and not a single one of them is gay??? Same with Boy Swallows Universe. Hm.... Not exactly the "picture of Australia" his books are cracked up to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit