Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

16 reviews

spacewahine's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Body horror, Vomit, and Violence

livlovread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Murder

worldthroughcurls's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse

annchmn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

First book I’ve been keen on for so long. I couldn’t stop reading it and the book felt less like reading words and more like living Eli’s life. 

This book felt like three books crammed into one but I’m glad that it was like that. There definitely were many unresolved that were a bit unbelievable. As well as some of the superhero esque invincibility. And I didn’t love the whole

Spoiler

Caitlyn Bell love story ending with them kissing and finally fulfilling Eli’s obsession with her and her looks… like after going through so much in the book it ends with them kissing which irked me

. Frankly the latter third of the book felt super different than what the start was building up to, and it was fun to read, but it felt like a whole different vibe than the style of the beginning, and I would’ve preferred more of the beginning. 

Apart from that, I had fun reading all the imagery and thoughts and details of Eli’s mind!!

Do your time before it does you!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Blood

atringas's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

This novel contains multitudes. Truly hard to describe, and honestly I’m struggling to quantify my feels about it myself. Beautiful in its imagery, brutal in its realism, touching, mystical, realistic, exciting, slow, there is a bit of everything going on in “Boy Swallows Universe”.
The book truly reads almost more like a number of smaller novels together as it chronicles the life of Eli Bell, and is mostly stronger for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny

Moderate: Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.75

Trent Dalton doesn't shy away from showing the darker bits of Australian society that we rarely get to see. Because this perspective is rarely shown, I would consider this book worth reading. I would warn fellow readers that this makes the book continuously confronting and it is certainly not a lighthearted read.
This provides the backdrop of a story that is far-fetched with descriptive writing that is quite abstract. I am sure there are people out there that would love this book but I found it was trying to be more profound than it actually is.
I also found that the female characters weren't as fully formed or complex as the male ones which is frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Rape, Torture, Violence, Sexism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Gore, and Sexual assault

elsa_clare's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

meganjeg's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read which makes it so interesting when the subject matter is around suburban poverty, drugs, abuse and neglect.

For better or worse, I primarily read to be entertained and uplifted and whilst this book is many things, it isn’t those two. So it did take me a few sittings over a number of months to read this book. 

I would recommend spending time with Eli Bell and his dysfunctional family. It’s a coming of age story that swaps out cliches for the realities of generational trauma. Plus, a cracking crime story. 

This book is grim but spectacular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

booksforsarah's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

I had trouble with this books pacing. At times there was intense actions scenes where I couldn’t put the book down, and then other times there was literally pages of internal monologue that had me nodding off. I think if the pace was a bit more consistent I would have enjoyed the reading experience a lot more. 

I can definitely appreciate the good writing, it probably just isn’t the book for me and that’s okay. 

As an Australian though, I loved it. I loved seeing references to Australian slang and brands and places ect and seeing my home country so explicitly represented 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bridgie_didge's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders