Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

8 reviews

carlytenille's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Violence, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and War

emjrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

I went into this book with minimal knowledge about what I was getting in to. I knew Dalton had got great reviews for previous work, that this was about the bombing of Darwin during WWII, and that was pretty much it. I picked it up in an op-shop, because I needed something to read on a plane, and it looked interesting. 

Such a good choice. Despite the fact that there is a laundry list of content warnings (see below) and in the hands of another author this story might have been a psychological thriller, this is a beautifully written story about love and perseverance. There are no 'surprises' of the type I hate in thrillers, and the writing is poetic, veering in to magical realism. 

While I'd like to write a nuanced and informative review, I got to the end of the book and went 'wow'. Fabulous characterisation, a careful mix of cultural groups, amazing visceral descriptions of landscape,    a plot that meanders coherently and engagingly, beautiful writing. I can see this being a book that gets taught in schools, because there is so much to unpack, so much imagery and interesting parallels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Racial slurs, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse and Racism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

My notes while writing this read: death of parent, grave robbing, physical and emotional abuse of child, racism, period typical slurs, implications of sexual violence (not clear if rape), alcoholism, drug use, physical violence between adults, mentions of sex work, being on the ground in a bombing raid plus the aftermath (including dismembered bodies), abandonment of a minor, attempted murder, attempted rape, drowning, murder (graphic), eye damage and other dismemberment due to leprosy plus forced institutionalism of lepers, delirium tremendous, infected wound (graphic description), possible abandonment of child, mentions of suicide,

ashmash's review against another edition

hopeful 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

I was very bored reading this book. The whimsical language was really overbearing and the plot seemed to take a back seat to all the unnecessary fanciful vocabulary. I’m fine with novels using this sort of language, but it felt like Trent Dalton was forcing a lot of it in just for the sake of it when it just halted the story. The book begins to pick up when Yukio joins Molly and Greta, however that’s the final third of the book. I’m the type of person who has to complete a book even if I’m not enjoying it. If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t have even reached the part where the plot begins to become interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, and Death

Minor: Rape and Suicide

zjdhudson's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? No

4.0

This book took me a while to get through but I think that worked in its favour. The book was heavy at times but it worked really well with the pace at which I was reading, it was a real slow burn reading this book and it was so worth it. I think the characters were really interesting and I think the detail put into the environment was fantastic and true to the Australian landscape. I highly recommend this book but make sure you go into it knowing that it’s a heavy read that may take a while otherwise you could easily be put off for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: War, Violence, Suicide, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Gun violence

margeaux_lily's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

sneako's review against another edition

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

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I struggled to enjoy the first third of the book - way too dark, graphic and bleak for me. Most of it felt unnecessary and heavy handed, and I think Dalton could have started the book around page 200, but I was glad I pressed on if only to be transported into the magic of the outback for the rest of the book! And honestly, all these characters and not a single one of them is gay??? Same with Boy Swallows Universe. Hm.... Not exactly the "picture of Australia" his books are cracked up to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit