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mia_difelice's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Torture
zombiezami's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Vomit, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Deportation
environmental destruction, saneismnfoutty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol
noahsingh's review
- Loveable characters? N/A
4.0
The reason this was only four rather than five stars for me is this (spoilers ahead and tw for rape/sexual assault):
1. What was the need to write the twins doing that to Thula? Seriously. It doesn't help the cause if any real way, she doesn't even end up realizing she's pregnant or having the child, she isn't even aware anything happened to her. Instead we just get the off-screen sexual assault of the main character with the complicity of some of the people she trusts most. Is the point just that women suffer from the short-sightedness of misogynistic men? If so, that was already made clear throughout the rest of the book. It was just upsetting for no reason in my opinion.
2. By the end of the book you're stuck with only Juba's perspective and the children who didn't rebel. I understand that the ending was realistic in terms, things like this often don't get fixed. What I didn't understand was the need to finish the book with the perspectives of those who conform to, and even benefit from, the oppression of people who they were once like. There was just, a bit too much sympathy for the oppressors in this book, I mean, what was the need for the Leader to have a tragic backstory as well? I'm sure lots of people who participate/benefit from oppression had some tragedy in their past, that doesn't make being complicit in the deaths of dozens of children okay? People do desperate things in desperate situations, sure, but why not focus more on solidarity? On potentially building resistance with the labourers at the oil pipes, rather than against them? I suppose my issue with this book is that despite the fact that I loved 90 percent of it, those last 40 or so pages of the book really lets it down. There's also quite a bit of skipping key/plot-important moments in the novel while instead lingering in the moments of depression/fear/terror. Which wouldn't be a problem if there was any payoff at the end, even if that had just been seeing the Five/Thula fight back against the soldiers, rather than hearing about it all third hand. Yes its brilliantly written, but the ultimate perspective jumps into Juba and the other Children, means that the final message of the book seems to be one of assimilation into systems of western/capitalism/neocolonial oppression. It lets down the rest of the book.
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Homophobia
plumquin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
kylieqrada's review
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Slavery
livmm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, and Slavery