Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Bat by Jo Nesbø

12 reviews

slimepuppy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Despite the blatant homophobia, transmisogyny and fatphobia, this book could have been way more fun - except when it finally begins to pick up the pace, the story grinds to a halt as the main character spirals, taking all the moderate fun time the reader was having with him down the drain.

Not terrible, but it took too long to get actually intersting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Addiction, Colonisation, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gun violence, Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Minor: Racial slurs and Injury/Injury detail

capra's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Misogyny, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Xenophobia

ekmook's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I don’t even know where to begin with how deeply offensive and problematic this entire book was…even for 1997.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Self harm, and Xenophobia

inkell's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Moderate: Genocide, Fatphobia, and Suicide

Minor: Biphobia

emmajh91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Racism, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

nieva098's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death, Genocide, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Grief, Colonisation, and Drug use

blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.0

I was extremely disappointed in this book. It has been on my to-read pile for awhile, and I finally got around to it because of a buddy read. The Bat suffers a bit from translation. It has that wooden feeling to it when things feel like a direct translation instead of something that becomes fluid and living in both languages. Or the original writing could just be wooden too. I do not really know. But that is the least of the issues when it comes to this novel. I cannot get past the fetishism of indigenous culture, the racism, the misogyny, the women experiencing tragedy mostly as a way to further the male lead, the inklings of homophobia peaking throughout the pages, the treatment and portrayal of sex workers and their industry, the macho maleness that is celebrated, the police's disregard for anything but solving the case, the unbelievable actions that several characters take, and the overall logic of the whole fucking thing. I know this was written in 1997, but I do not have time for this bullshit. Ugh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Murder, Rape, Addiction, and Grief

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fatphobia and Homophobia

ran_sophia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Spoiler

Surprising to me was who the perpetrator was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Alcoholism

Moderate: Racism and Murder

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Colonisation

katiiekhaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.5

I had high hopes during the beginning of this book but it felt like it lost its way a little over halfway through. It picked up again at the very end of the book but overall it was just very average with some pacing issues. 
I also think there was just too many characters we are introduced to early on and expected to remember who exactly they are later on. It’s not a problem for some but a lot of these characters aren’t remarkable so they’re easy to forget, with some more character development, better names for the Australians and stronger character voices I think I would have got a lot less confused in the last 1/3 of the book. 
There were also a couple plot points that as an Australian thought felt very unlikely but I’m willing to overlook it since the author isn’t Australian. Although this book isn’t going to deter me from reading any more of the Harry Hole books, it definitely isn’t putting me in a rush to read them. 

Spoiler

Also I was really pleasantly surprised that this author really tried to show some of the issues Aboriginal Australian’s face, but that self awareness goes down the hole in when 3 out of the 4 potential suspects are all Aboriginal men. I just don’t think he needed or should have gone down that route for the story and felt a bit like a slap in the face. Especially since the only other Aboriginal man who wasn’t a suspect was a homeless alcoholic, it just felt to feed into a lot of stereotypes instead of subverting them and making it really critical of racism in an Australian context.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Murder

Minor: Racism

caitlinbythebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Fast paced read with some mystery and twists.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use