Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

8 reviews

at806's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Violence

gymjam_reads's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

4.75

What amazing storytelling - I was transported right into the life of a US circus in the 1930s!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism

bookcaptivated's review

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Excrement, Antisemitism, Confinement, Ableism, Fatphobia, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit, Car accident, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Dementia, Misogyny, Racism, Trafficking, and Death of parent

jenren1010's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Minor: Antisemitism

itshrewsbury's review

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed the setting for the book! A circus during the Great Depression? How interesting, but the book tends to fall flat when it comes to characters that aren’t Jacob. The love interest, Marlena, has no real agency and no real flaws, so the romance aspect of the book tanked for me. When it comes to how a circus runs though, absolutely top tier! 

16+

TW/CW: Misogyny, animal death, violence, nsfw scenes, slurs/anti-semitism, murder

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Antisemitism

planetshelf's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I don’t know whether it’s just because of who I am, but I don’t think this is very romantic. It is very centered around thoughts of sex and overly anatomical descriptions of bodies (boobs’ descriptions were weird and often related to acidic fruits and penises sounded repulsive), but doesn’t feel at all like other books I’ve read that are categorized as romances.

The way Jacob — 90 (or 93) — is written is wonderful. I don’t know exactly what elders think, but I grew up with grandparents as my guardians and I feel an oddly sentimental connection with the more utilitarian thoughts that were written.

I feel this may be worth mentioning: the author uses non-colloquial vocabulary when referring to a body. If that might be uncomfortable for you, you probably should let this one go.

Nonetheless, I liked it and thought it was a fun journey to read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Death, Animal death, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

cammiem8's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book more. I love books about old timey cheating, but the love story just didn’t quite grip me. The plot had enough turns to keep me engaged and I did listen through it very quickly. I also didn’t care much for the parts of the book set much later with the old man, I didn’t think the framing device added much of value. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Classism, Death of parent, Murder, Antisemitism, Cursing, Car accident, and Gore

Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Animal abuse is constant in the book, but it is very clearly condemned by the protagonist

gabb_reads's review

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Racial slurs and Antisemitism