Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Stjålet by Ann-Helén Laestadius

34 reviews

corsetedfeminist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book reminds me of an Appalachian ballad: filled with love of the land and culture, family, purposefully ineffective police, murder, and grief. 
It details the coming of age of a Sami girl, beginning on the day she finds her reindeer butchered by a neighbor who is not a tribe member. The rest of the books shows her growing up, the changes in her family, and her ongoing battle to force the police to treat the slaughter of her tribe’s reindeer seriously. 
It begins with a deeply traumatized little girl, and ends with an even more traumatized, but brave and determined woman. I think Elsa is one of the most honest characters I’ve read in awhile, which comes with the author’s comfort with showing a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. The police never really come to care about the concerns of the Sami, climate change is affecting the village they live in, her family is deeply dysfunctional and everyone in her family has mental health issues, and the future of the reindeer herds is still up in the air… but there she stands, strong, proud, and tragic. 
This isn’t a story of overcoming trauma, it’s a story about how sometimes life is just messed up and we have to survive it. 
Beyond the raw beauty of the portrayal of Elsa and her family and friends, the racism and oppression of the Sami people is in stark contrast to the deeply loving portrayal of Sami culture in a way that makes the descriptions of oppression hit even harder, such as the scenes where Elsa’s grandmother’s dementia causes her to relive her days in boarding school. 
In short, this is a poignant story about Indigenous suffering and grief, but still balanced with strength and somehow not without hope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

premature_insecurity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

En bok alla svenskar borde läsa. Att vi inte lär oss mer om detta i skolan och i samhället känns inte helt rätt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide

realityczar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide, Grief, and Colonisation

Minor: Forced institutionalization

llayaz's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, and Blood

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

kirjakimalainen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An incredible, well written and important book that manages to discuss both current and generational trauma that Sámi people face. The book feels like arctic winter and grief, the writing creates a vivid image of the environment, and very strongly conveys the mood.

The book is very informative on the current reality Sámi people face, and as a nordic person i'm glad i read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism

franzeerdbeerbacke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

mhcg's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide

jayisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

I know very little about Sámi culture, so this novel ended up being really insightful in learning more about modern Sámi life and the discrimination they face in Swedish society. Laestadius presented a number of nuanced situations for the Sámi community in her novel, such as the challenges of upholding tradition in a time of modernization, generational trauma, as well as gender roles (especially as a reindeer herder). Importantly, though, Laestadius is concerned with exploring the tensions between the Sámi community and non-Sámi community, particularly when dealing with law enforcement. The message is a little heavy-handed, which is that it’s clear she wants to draw attention to the injustices that indigenous peoples face when dealing with authoritative figures.

Structurally, I admit that I had some difficulty getting into this one. I don’t know if it was the particularly short chapters or what, but I was a bit thrown off by the overall pacing of the novel. I think another thing that didn’t quite work for me was that, while situations were explored with nuance, many of the characters themselves lacked complexity. I did feel that Laestadius set the reader up for a good versus evil story with how the characters were depicted. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, it did make everything read as somewhat reductive.

One last thing I would add is that this novel is definitely not one for those who get squeamish about animal cruelty and death, as Laestadius does not shy away from describing the horrific killing of reindeer, also adding considerable emotional depth in losing them, especially since reindeer are more than “just animals” in Sámi culture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Car accident

geerbeer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Heftige omschrijvingen, maar wauw! Voor iemand die de cultuur niet kent is het ontzettend leerzaam en je voelt enorm mee met de personages en dieren in het boek. Elke keer was ik weer in 'awe' over hoe mensen toch prachtig in verbinding kunnen staan met de aarde, haar flora en fauna en al zo snel zien dat het klimaat naar de klote gaat. Ontzettend mooi!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

allikay14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Grief