Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste

17 reviews

tenten's review

dark emotional slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death and Antisemitism

zoes_human's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

4.0

A beautifully written story of Ethiopia's fight against Mussolini's invasion. It is brutal and heartbreaking, but I don't think the truth of war can be told in any other way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Minor: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Death, Infidelity, and Injury/injury detail

ragna_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a treat to read, Mengiste writes evocative and compelling prose. Oftentimes, when authors make frequent use of metaphor and simile it tends to unnecessarily densen the prose in ways that don't aid the actual narrative. Mengiste, however, manages to find those images that immediately deepen the emotional and atmospheric contexts of the situations with a single line and brings the reader much closer to the characters and their interior world. Her characters are multifaceted, and while the Italians are obviously the villains, the Ethiopian protagonists aren't simply thoroughly gallant and enlightened heroes, but deeply flawed (Aster) and occasionally criminal (Kidane) people. It also highlights the immense and important contribution of women in the fight against colonialism, especially in Ethiopia.

Spoiler

I also like that there isn't a romance or even some grand moment of understanding and forgiveness between Ettore and Hirut. Their situations are different and while he was definitely oppressed he was still a part of the attempted subjugation of her home country.

It's a great read and I would highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Death

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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? No

4.0

This book took me ages to read but this was such a rewarding novel and honestly stick with it if you are struggling. This book is centred around military history, but demonstrating how war in Ethiopia against the Italians in 1935 was not strictly masculine territory. Mengiste's work demonstrates women fighting for their place to be amongst their fellow men on the battlefield, following the story of Hirut and her master Kidane. 

I liked how this book showed you how no character was 100% good or bad and that each person had their own good and bad qualities. It demonstrates that the oppressed can also be the oppressor and provokes mixed feelings for each character throughout the novel. 

I really loved the writing style too, beautiful prose. I found the lack of speech marks hard at first, but like with Girl, Woman, Other, you get there when you get into the flow of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Murder, Racism, and War

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

wngwendy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.25

review to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia and Antisemitism

athenaia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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 book is very challenging to read but beautifully written. However it is also not a book that is for light reading. The topics that are discussed were sometimes hard to deal with and I would recommend anyone who wants to read it to do it slowly and stop if it is too much for one day. In my opinion the book is a fantastic litterary work even though I needed half a year to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Antisemitism

margauxhdz's review

I think that this story is an interresting one for sure but the structure and narration were all over the place which made it diffucult for me to really get into it. I got to a point where despite being curious about the rest of the story, I wasn't interrested enough to finsih the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Antisemitism, Death, and Torture

laura_storyteller's review

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Antisemitism

daisymaytwizell's review

challenging dark informative reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I listened to the audiobook of this, and while that helped me as a white person learn how to pronounce the names/places, I do think that with all the shifts in time and perspective it would be a much easier read with a physical copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

Minor: Sexual violence

Mengiste has a fantastic balance between communicating the horrors of war, without making the descriptions gratuitous.