Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Het Woud van Birnam by Eleanor Catton

36 reviews

abernathy_33's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

siobhanward's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

2.5

NYT Notable Books 2023: 15/100

This was a bit of a disappointment, but it shouldn't have been, since I didn't particularly care for Catton's <i> The Luminaries </i> either. While this was better than that book, it was only by a small margin. Catton insists on making her books long for no real reason that I can see. This book would have been the same without the level of detail and the amount of time we spent going in circles. It felt like everything important happened in the last 50 pages and nothing really got resolved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident

rzh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

WOW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

cloranger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

quickermorequickly's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

A whirlwind of a book. Catton writes masterfully flawed characters whose choices are guided by their incomplete understandings of the situations they face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Vomit

environmental destruction

kellyofcali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book explores the difficulty of trying or wanting to try to do good in this world, and the darker sides of ordinary people (and not-so-ordinary). I really enjoyed most of it - the writing is very good and the characters well built, and it takes some sharp twists. I'm not sure how I felt about the ending,

it's very brutal though I think purposefully so to make a point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Medical content

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

bookbanshee's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A Shakespearean tragedy told in Austenian internal dialogue by a cast of flawed and largely unlikeable characters — not least because of this being an overwhelmingly white cast playing out their dramas and fantasies of climate apocalypse and hero narratives/saviour complexes on stolen land in colonial-settler New Zealand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence

hanz's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

emilyseebold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Vomit