Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon

6 reviews

janeblue's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

softanimal's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

teainthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Homophobia

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

 The World and All That it Holds is an epic love story that spans most of the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of kilometres - mostly on foot - from Sarajevo to Shanghai, via Bolshevik Russia, Tashkent and the Taklamakan Desert. It’s a story, both tender and tragic, which unfolds against the backdrop of World War I and the Sino-Japanese war. At it’s heart are two Bosnian men, Pinto and Osman, one Jewish the other Muslim, and Rahela, a beloved daughter. It’s a story which focuses a lot on migration, on the refugee experience, and the realities of being a stateless person. It includes espionage and opium addiction. It’s not the easiest of reads with a changing cast of characters, subtle changes of perspective, the looping of time, and the inclusion of multiple languages. It’s poignant, haunting, and beautifully written. It has much to say about humanity. It may not be perfect but I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism and War

Moderate: Homophobia and Islamophobia

spec_tacles's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia

likemindedbooks's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon (The Lazarus Project) is brutal, beautiful and an absolute masterpiece. I was riveted by the audiobook, the narration of which was expertly done and very authentic to the voice and tone of this piece. There are plenty of trigger warnings that would normally perhaps prevent me from picking this book up (lots of wartime violence--gore, torture, and sexual assault) but it is part of the reality of this world in the backdrop of the exceptionally tender and raw love story between the two MCs. It was difficult emotionally at times but worth it. A powerfully human novel that will stay with me a very long time. Thank you to MacMillan audio for the advanced listening copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail