Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Antarctica by Claire Keegan

15 reviews

stephenrotzschthomas's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A strong collection of almost uniformly dark stories. It's clear that this is some of Keegan's earliest work, though. There is much of the strong writing that sold me so wholly on Foster and Small Things Like These, but her grasp of nuance is still unsettled. Perhaps most difficult to deal with here are the moments where Keegan butts up against racism. Perhaps it is a comment on the narrators in her stories, though I felt the language used only distracted from the stories in question. I've another Keegan collection on my TBR pile, and am hoping these are youthful attempts at edginess that have faded over time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

hollyrebecca's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Lyrically written stories that speak to the darkness in humans, their faults and dreams. Each was so well written, but some of these stories will never leave me: Antarctica, The Ginger Rogers Sermon, and Sisters 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

bvic's review

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Keegan is a beautiful writer, no doubt about that. Masterclass in short storytelling. It felt like peeking into moments of tragedy. 

This collection was racist in places which marred the experience - memorably in the short stories ‘Passport Soup’ and ‘A Scent of Winter’. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

emmavardy2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I loved Claire keegan books small things like these and foster. This was a mixed bag of short stories. Some show glimmers of her genius to come and have truly wicked twists, and were 5 stars. Some, I really didn't like due use of some racist words, which seemed unnecessary. Which was a shame. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Kidnapping