julesreadsstuff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, Excrement, Murder, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
vrhayes08's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction
elerireads's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Misogyny, Violence, Gore, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Sexual violence
kwahl's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Drug use, Excrement, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, War, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Rape, Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Vomit, Genocide, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault
herondaleducks's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Trafficking, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Gore, Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness
emmalouisereads's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
It’s not like The Bees, which I enjoyed more because it was very much from the perspective of one bee. We only knew what the bee knew. This book wandered around between different sea creatures and as a result lost a bit of the unique storytelling the bees had.
There’s a lot of sexual assault in this book - which if you know anything about dolphins should be expected. But I found it difficult in a way one might not expect - as obviously it is dolphins and not humans. You’re very much in the mind of the animals as they experience pain and it’s not pleasant to read.
Certainly worth a read, it’s surprisingly tense and emotively portrays the devastating effects of pollution at sea and overfishing. It’s a book that’ll stay with me.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Gore
booking_along's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
i see why people love it and i can see why people don’t.
it’s brutally honest and how’s a direct view into how the marine life is effected by humanity in different ways - but all of them destroying and killing the marine wild life in some way either directly or indirectly.
so this isn’t a light fun read but a brutal one.
but one that needs to be told that way.
so i can see why some people read this and are horrified by how it is written and describes some moments or how they… well not like since it’s brutal and horrific but that this book does what really happen justice and because of that is very well done.
as someone extremely invested in marine life and wanting to help in any way i can… i expected to love this.
and in some ways i was blown away by how the author managed to tell this story as she does.
but at the same time… i don’t like the humanization of the animals. i didn’t enjoy reading the thoughts and “hearing” the animals talk with each other in the same ways that humans would.
and that might sound weird but i but i can’t explain it better than that.
i just would have liked a more nonfiction fiction writing style as an observer that sees the different behavior in Ea and all the other things and tries to understand… i don’t know.
i just didn’t love reading about dolphins and whales that thinks like a human.
i don’t even know if it’s just because i wasn’t in the right mindset or if the writing style just doesn’t work for me but something just kept annoying me with this book and it’s story it just never became this great story to me that it could be.
i wanted to read this and love this but sadly it didn’t work out like that. at least not for me.
but i do think that this book can work for a lot of people and that anyone that thinks this looks interesting should try it.
and it’s wonderful that this book became short listed for the “women price for fiction” because hopefully more people will read it because of that and will learn and see the horrors that the oceans and the inhabitants of it go through.
which certainly is something more people need to learn and hear more about!
so i do recommend this book.
even if it didn’t work for me personally as i had hoped.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Violence