Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

5 reviews

linnybear's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I suppose my decision to read it in english was the first mistake, I always find russian classics thrilling and engaging but this one had no effect on me. Maybe if I read it in my native language (polish) whcih has way more language similarities to russian I'd enjoy it more. I find certain themes of this book, such as main character's alcoholism cliché (as if his whole character is based on stereotypes) but perhaps I shouldn't hold it against it due to the age and the country it was written in (with its certain society problems and literary traditions). I completely understand the impact this novel had on an entire genre, I think the storyline itself had lots of potential and with better execution it could still keep up with time 50 years later but that would require something more than throwing philosophical debates in the last two chapters.

tl;dr it's fine I guess? read Lem instead

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

erikwmj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Racism and Sexism

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and War

gilnean's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Excrement, and Pregnancy

sipping_tea_with_ghosts's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Enjoyed my read, even if it felt more like a collection of ideas than a complete story. Brief but bursting with interesting bits of worldbuilding and a great "what if" scenario that warrants uncomfortable questions about our existence and how unimportant we are on the potential journey of others.

The summary promises a much more epic adventure than what is actually presented in the book however - coming off as half a dozen vignettes exploring an aspect of the Zone, lacking a real sense of progression. The main character is also about as complicated and welcoming as a porcupine seat cushion. The second half of the book was much more entertaining to me since it focused on two men debating existence at a bar instead of following around the barbed personality protagonist and his mutated daughter with no personality besides kid_behavior.exe and wife with subserviant_doe.exe

So if you're going through the classics like I am, then I'd say its great on delivering those intriguing introspections but lacking in a compelling journey. For less than 200 pages though, you could do much, much worse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Gaslighting