Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

5 reviews

laurenleigh's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

What an interesting play of genres, blurring the lines between fiction and non. Similar to Devil in the White City, it reminds me that history is indeed a story we tell or are told. The parallels between Civil War era and today’s America are striking and concerning. There’s an opening Lincoln quote here about how we should fear the dictator, we should fear the mob, but we should really fear when both the dictator and the mob are on the same side. That one is sticking with me. This book’s plot isn’t always terribly exciting or action-packed, but I really enjoyed the reading process. The family dynamics were interesting and often hilarious. Truth sometimes is stranger than fiction!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Murder

amykwrites's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Classism, and Blood

ghoulscoutcamp's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Grief, Alcoholism, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, War, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

nadia's review against another edition

emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

4.0

A big part of me eventually giving this book 4 stars is to do with me having read it knowing nothing of its subject matter - a combo of me not reading the blurb or the publisher’s letter in the beginning pages and me not knowing certain details about a particular part of history… 

I went into it with such high hopes, after having uncharacteristically filled out the form to receive an ARC, because I remember enjoying We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves several years ago.

However for a lot of it, I felt it was rather slow and I didn’t get what the point was.

By the end, everything made sense!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia

sjanke2's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

 I'm so enjoying fiction's latest focus on the families surrounding history's (in)famous men: William Shakespeare's wife in Hamnet, Johannes Kepler's mom in Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch, and now John Wilkes Booth's siblings.

Between my fondness for this literary structure and my obsession with Abe Lincoln (we share a bday), I should have loved this book. My high expectations for this novel dwindled over its ~500 pages as I read repeatedly about the Booth brothers' theatrical success, their drinking, and their silly life-threatening travels. I had to remind myself that this is not a novel about John Wilkes Booth; it's about his family. But his family was melodramatic and frankly put me to sleep on many occasions. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Infidelity, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and War