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klenda_vee's review against another edition
Graphic: Cursing, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Bullying and Alcohol
The book is satire, and the tagged subjects in this book are there as satirical commentary on these subjectserebus53'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
4.25
This is a dark and twisted comedy. The dialogues feel like a twisted conglomeration of Monty Python, Alice in Wonderland, and M* A* S* H* with a peppering of Dr Seuss, Billy Wilder, and Abbot and Costello. From the outset you feel sure that the protagonist is a little mentally unwell, and slightly paranoid, but you soon see that there is a lot of it going around, and that they are all crazy like foxes. I kept being reminded of that quote from the movie Pump up the Volume, "you're not screwed up.. you're an un-screwed up reaction to a screwed up situation".
I think this book is about equal parts gut-bustingly hilarious and unsettlingly horrific. Through satire and parody it jabs ceaselessly at the heroism of industry and Capitalism, corruption, the glory of war murder, the need to rescue women who are in charge of their own lives, the confusion of love and lust, confusion, certainty, certain confusions, and confusing certainty.
Parts of the story are clearly hyperbole. The absurdism is rife. I'm astounded that I haven't heard more of the punchlines of these jokes in my everyday life, but maybe I have and I was just not keyed into it. It's all incredibly convoluted. The story is told in anecdotes from the points of view of various people around the protagonist. There are recurrent gags, and retellings of parts of the plot from different people, and this all feeds into the feeling of being unsettlingly adrift, and carrying on through a haze of unreality peppered with déjà vu (or déjà vécu, or presque vu..) where you see things twice, or miss them altogether.
The entire army situation is painted as blustering generals vying for status, while underfunded and overworked conscripts are roped into unwinnable situations, glory projects cost lives, bureaucratic shuffling means everything is officially lost in translation, or redacted, or just lost, and side-hustlers make out like bandits. Every sensible supposition is questioned and turned on its head, even the useful ones.. and it's all incredibly frustrating. You have to laugh or you cry and that combat, high-tension gallows humour is all you are left with... that and the haunting echos of trauma.
This is probably well worth a reread, or I may leave it on as background noise if I want a certain sort of dark chuckle.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Antisemitism
mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I felt like the novel dragged in places, it also felt like I'm reading someone's diary instead of a novel, sometimes felt like a college student looked up the synonyms in a thesaurus and put every word that they could find in the book.
The book certainly is witty and funny. The characters are well written. Their humanness and fallibility and their complexities make you think or forces you to think, human beings are not black and white. War is evil. Human beings are mere pawns in it, and at the mercy of the fascists, who invoke wars to stroke their tiny egos. Through Yosarrian you see how a person in trying to do the right thing is always caught in exasperating circumstances. The skepticism of Yosarrian is something that I guess all of us go through after a certain point in life. It's relatable and quite understanding.
Moving on, I absolutely did not like and was quite frankly disgusted by the rape and sexual assault scenes. They were described jn graphic details, and I believe for which there was no need. The treatment of women as mere sex toys was very disturbing. And we know that, that's how men treat women especially those who go to war. Women and children and elderly suffer the most. Women and children are raped, brutally assaulted and all because the men who go to war think that it is their right for defending their country to gain sexual pleasures by hook or crook. I just wish that the sexual scenes were described to a minimum.
All in all, book is good, okay. 3.5 stars, .5 extra for Yosarrian. I loved him till the end. You cannot predict that the characters will have this human aspect to them when you first start the book but as you go by and the book explore similar scenes from different POVs you understand them and mildly condemn yourself for judging them too hastily.
Graphic: Bullying, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Injury/Injury detail