Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Pod by Laline Paull

12 reviews

cassie7e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

I don't know how to rate this book. It was vicious, and beautiful, and sad, each in their part. I detached from the pain and cruelty (human and dolphin alike), struggled to make sense of what was happening and how it related to real world human activities, but unexpectedly found myself moved to tears at the whale's ending song.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, and Death of parent

hduc's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

4.0

It was brutal, devastating, all too real.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Blood, and Excrement

headstuckinabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is hard to rate. I did go into it after Lena Norms review so was expecting something different.

There are difficult themes (see content warnings) but most of all its a book on climate change, whilst about dolphins you can see how we could end up in similar dire straights. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent

ank3's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

bethtrigg's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

bookbinbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This is a story of our times, it will haunt and inspire in equal measure, it felt like 'Game of Thrones' meets 'Seaspiracy' for me. Brutal. Reflective. Memorable. The characters are each very interesting in how they are individually and where they interact with each other. Holds a mirror up to how we take and overpower the natural world and don't appreciate the fine balance of mother Earth and are selfish as a race and unnecessarily cruel. Laline Paull and how she is able to draw readers in to a world and society we would recognise but populate it with cetaceans and other sea fellows just amazes me and is a talent that is as unique as it is captivating deserves a lot more recognition.  I'll be reading Bees by her next, and will appreciate the natural world even more in an entirely different way than I ever did before. Powerful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I can completely see that this book would not suit everyone, but I really loved it. There were some real surprises in here, amongst the darkness. I generally love fiction with animal protagonists anyway, so maybe I am slightly biased, but I really appreciated this book for it’s beauty, rawness, brutal honesty, heart wrenching twists, and also the rays of hope.
If you loved The Bees, and The Handmaids’s Tale, I’d highly recommend it, but I would definitely check trigger warnings if you need to do so, some sections are brutal to read, representing the animals’ survival and struggles in graphic scenes, so please go in forewarned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kwahl's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

herondaleducks's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I didn't enjoy this at all. This did not have the cohesion of story telling that The Bees had. I admire the message but I disliked every second of reading this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment