Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Flush

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Flush by Virginia Woolf

7 reviews

renardthefox's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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? No

3.0

So let's get this out of the way: FLUSH is the biography of a dog. By Virginia Woolf. (I am struggling not to write Woof…) And it's good! Mostly.

The book begins with extremely eugenicist energy; we should breed humans like dogs - because that worked SO WELL for dogs, right? *Wheezes in pug* (Of course this is not the only - or even main - problem with eugenics. But putting aside the sheer fascism of eugenics, this is just a bad comparison.)

Anyway. After THAT we get to know Flush. He's a lovely wee doggo. Woolf really captures the dogginess; this is not a particularly anthropomorphised dog.

The style of the biography is a pastiche of Eminent Victorian biographies. Woolf really took Lytton Strachey's idea to its logical conclusion.

The foreword in this edition is, however, the most interesting part of it. I don't know if I agree with all the points made, but they're certainly something to chew on as you read FLUSH.

Content Warnings

carolinebl's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

This unusual biography was so playful and heart-warming. A book for a dog-lover by a dog-lover. It shows life, with its highs and lows, through extraordinary eyes.

Content Warnings