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felicitousenigma'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Incest and Forced institutionalization
mo_bookshelves's review against another edition
Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Abortion
Minor: Child abuse and Incest
drawahardline'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
4.5
ihre träume ertrinken in den kürbissuppentellern,
die mütter ertrinken in ihrem kinderglück,
die väter ertrinken in ihren hellblauen hemden,
in den orchideenblauen hemden.
sind die eigentlich mit lebensmittelfarbe angemalt?
die väter
die abendessen
die einfamilienhäuser
damit sie aussehen wie väter, wie abendessen, wie einfamilienhäuser?
sind das eigentlich lebendige?"
"I can only write about you when I am in a body of my own;
I can only love you
from afar"
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Eating disorder, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Dementia, Abortion, and Classism
crows_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Dementia, and Abortion
Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Miscarriage, Suicide, and War
insanebookperson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, and Abortion
ienbdri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy
suzyq's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
birtelesemann's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Abortion, Alcohol, and Classism
tinnuben's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Abortion, and Dysphoria
Minor: Incest and Rape
roach'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? It's complicated
4.0
And here is what I do instead:
I break the circle of children who kill their parents in order to be free, to become themselves. I don't kill my parents. I am giving birth to my mothers.
Blutbuch by nonbinary author Kim de l'Horizon is an autofictional novel about generational trauma, self-discovery, and gender expression. It won the German Book Prize in 2022.
This book plays a lot with language. To begin with, the German language is particularly difficult when it comes to gender-neutral expression, so it is refreshing to read a book that takes the effort to tackle that throughout a full novel. Then past that, the author uses traditional Swiss-German dialect, modern queer talk, and even English to different effects, which showcases how much language changes depending on person and subject. There is something very engaging about a modern voice wielding the language of older generations to make an observation about different lifetimes. The clash of different jargons as the clash of different experiences and perceptions.
The text keeps evolving and changing form as the author seeks to uncover some family secrets, discovers their family's history, and comes to grips with their own relationship to the past and their relatives. Throughout the anecdotes, essayesque self-reflection, and lengthy ancestor biographies, it can seem somewhat aimless at points but ultimately manages to tie it all up very well to make the picture complete.
Blutbuch is unique, it's extremely personal, and it's timely without leaving behind the past. A symbol for the everchanging zeitgeist and a representation of the different kinds of struggles for one's own identity without antagonizing the past.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Dementia
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Incest