Reviews tagging 'War'

The Shell Collector: Stories by Anthony Doerr

5 reviews

iszys's review against another edition

reflective slow-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? Yes

2.0

After loving Cloud Cuckoo Land and All The Light We Cannot see, this collection of short stories was a bit of a disappointment. Anthony Doerr writes beautifully, but the stories themselves just didn't do it for me. They were slow and felt a bit repetitive. It also weirded me out that out of eight stories, two involved romantic relationships between teenage girls and 30+ year old men... The attempted romance in his later novels were my least favorite parts of those books, so it makes sense that I really didn't like it here where it is much more prominent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, and War

giupu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

clarita's review against another edition

reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and War

seawarrior's review against another edition

3.0

This collection wasn't exactly what I had hoped, the characters are often simplistic, with only a few traits to distinguish them and the ways they interpret the world. However, Doerr has an abundant skill for describing the natural world and for using these descriptions to set tone. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Infidelity, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and War

cdua's review against another edition

reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.75

I was a fan of this to an extent, but I feel like the cliche was a bit overdeveloped in some stories and some messages would have had more impact if I had more time to sit with the stories. Nonetheless, I enjoy short stories and the imagination they bring forth. I appreciated how a lot of the endings were mere insinuations and implications and there wasn’t always the happy conclusive ending you would expect. A summary of the stories could be something like this: an analysis of the human emotions of fear and regret, jealousy and spite, adventure and constraint, and an odd ode to patriotism. Favorite stories were: So Many Chances, The Caretaker, and Mkondo!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt