Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

9 reviews

marareading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

This is a quick and intense read. It will definitely stay with me for a long time. It is very thought provoking. What happens when we push too far? What happens when the parameters aren't set properly? How do we recover when things go wrong?

This book is about a man who goes in to take his citizenship test and he gets more than he planned for. I could never have imagined the twists in this book. So much packed into a short book. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Dementia, and Abortion

runwithkander's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Best book I read in 2021. Audio book is amazing for this, and honestly listened twice back to back because I’m not sure what I would have done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Gaslighting

poojakunaparaju's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• 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

3.25

i think it was super enjoyable like REALLY INTERESTING up until the end like legit till the last 2 pages after which, a shift in the main character's well, character, made me recoil sharply from the entire story even tho u can't blame him for switching up after the shit he was put through AND I MEAN SHIT. i remember being like 3/4th of the way through and thinking this would def be a 4.25ish read but when i was done it dropped down an entire star to 3.25 and i wish i could explain why but i can't, just something in my gut and also NO ONE CARES LMAO but i was really fascinated by a couple of paragraphs that went into human psychological theories which was informative while still being comprehensive to an average reader i'd say, so i was happy it taught me some pretty cool stuff without making me feel too dumb in the process LOL

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Cursing and Xenophobia

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

montyroz's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

keemalcala's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Islamophobia

juliezantopoulos's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I am not sure I have words for this one. I love Sylvain's writing, but this was...dark. And I'm not entirely sure that it had to be in order to get the point across. I understand dystopian worlds and alternate futures, but this felt a little like torture porn, a book written purely to shock. It's not the first time a book on the morality of choosing who lives and who dies has been written...but this was a little much. 

It does a good job of packing a punch in a short novella. There's a deeper meaning and diversity of character, but I didn't love this one the way I hoped I would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Medical content

eol's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping

readandfindout's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.75

Style/writing: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 3 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Fatphobia and Rape