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impla77's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
beriboo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and War
moriahleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
paperquilt's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War
books_n_pickles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder
brogan7's review against another edition
3.75
Perhaps the difficulties with this book lie in the difference between the expectations as set up by the blurb versus the reality of the story as it is told?
Maybe this is meant to reflect the difference between war propaganda and the realities of war itself?
I'm not one to say: well, you can't like a book if you don't like what happened in it. If that were the case, there would be no books about incest, war, sexual assault, and a good number of other things. But then again, when you have a book that is so graphic and so detailed...not only in elements of historical veracity, but also in details that are to do with the fictional world that she created...I don't know, maybe it takes someone with less sensitivity than me to read such things? And if so, what is the point of writing them?
In Jarhead, the military guy says: there's no such thing as an anti-war movie. The military guys watch anti-war movies like they're porn, to get themselves hyped up for a battle.
I have a feeling that this book suggests to me there is a point where an anti-war, anti-violence-against-women book becomes itself an object of violence against women. (The (male) commentator on the cover says: "Beautiful and devastating." I wonder by what objective measure you can call this book beautiful? There were parts, certainly--I read it because of the beginning, because of how Mengiste pulls you in and the character of Hirut is so strong and so compelling and so downtrodden, that you are already caring about her before you even have a chance... but this book is not beautiful. In fact, I hate that he calls it beautiful because in a way I find this story hugely patriarchal. It says, it doesn't matter what you do to women, they will survive. It doesn't matter how trashed they are by men, they will survive. They won't be broken, they'll be survivors. And I just have a little more rage left than that, this kind of "all-forgiving," very martyr-mother-Mary kind of legend, where at the end of it, she's still standing, as though that is okay, then, that we as human beings read all of the ravages done unto her and other women, we're still goddamn well forgiving the heinous crimes of the men around her, because she comes out triumphant.
I call bullshit.
The book jacket says this book is "an unputdownable exploration of female power."
I would have to say, at close of reading, that if that is the extent to which we can imagine female power, we are in major trouble. It is an examination of power, certainly. But an exploration of female power? No. It is overwhelmingly about male power and the will to exterminate and destroy. It is about, as she says more than once in the book, those who are born to own things and those who are born to be owned.
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I wanted to learn something about the history of Ethiopia that would help me understand what is happening in the Tigray, now.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War
Moderate: Child death
annreadsabook's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Something I found interesting was Mengiste’s characterization of certain players on the Italian side, particularly a young Jewish Italian photographer who usually complies with his orders out of fear of being returned to a dangerous situation at home and occasionally finds himself questioning the morality of his position. I don’t think Mengiste means to absolve folks like this man of their culpability and complicity in the human atrocities that took place during the invasion—instead, I believe she sought to show the complex nature of evildoing. In this same vein, Mengiste depicts the leaders of the Ethiopian factions as being deeply flawed characters themselves. Even the people we tout as heroes, Mengiste shows us, are humans who, behind closed doors or even in the open, can be destroyers.
Still more fascinating is the fact that Mengiste modeled this story on the experiences of her own great-grandmother—I can imagine the kinds of emotions Mengiste must have felt during the writing process. This novel is a challenging, beautifully written tribute to the Ethiopian women whose contributions and experiences have often been overlooked.
I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy historical fiction—a word to the wise, though, that this is very heavy on the historical component! Please also be sure to check out The Storygraph for content warnings on this book, as it deals with some heavy subject matter.
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and War
tenten's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Child death and Antisemitism
booking_along's review
- 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
3.5
the shadow king tells the story of those ethiopian women who fought alongside men, who even today have remained no more than errant lines in faded documents. what i have come to understand is this: the story of war had always been a masculine story, but this was not true for ethiopia and it has never been that way in any form of struggle. women have been there, we are here now.
to those women and girls of ethiopia who would not let themselves be completely erased by history, who stood up when i was looking for them and made themselves known. i see you. i will always see you.
i think i wasn’t in the right headspace to read this book when i read it.
the story and how the author talks about why the book was written and all that sounds fantastic.
but i couldn’t get into the actual writing and keep losing interest in the book for no good reason other then that i kept noticing my mind would wander while i tried to read this book.
i did read it and finished it but i feel like i missed parts.
so i don’t feel like i can give review until i reread it or looked up if others had similar struggles with this book and it’s not me but the writing.
as i feel about this right now?
great idea, important story, but told in a way that made it hard for me to want to read it
Graphic: Violence and War
zoes_human's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail