Reviews tagging 'War'

Parlarne tra amici by Sally Rooney

11 reviews

brigg_sy's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: War

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Better than Normal People but still not great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Self harm

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: War

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

my second go with Sally Rooney (first being Normal People), and this time was much more enjoyable. nowhere near as bleak and depressing, but still very emotional. i found the narrator’s desperate need for validation relatable; me too girlie. really well plotted. don’t be fooled by the title though: it’s a lot of internal monologue and more about the conversations that didn’t happen than the ones that did.

i have to comment on the US cover, especially for the audiobook (storygraph shows a different one but you can see what i’m talking about here: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DTekX2n4L._SL500_.jpg). first of all, i don’t mind the composition but i dislike the art style, its flatness and lifelessness when this book is all about complex characters. but what really bothers me is that i think some other artist was given the task of adapting the cover art to a square aspect ratio for the audiobook, and literally copied, pasted, and mirrored the original tightly-cropped faces, adding in the nose bits. because, why are they so symmetrical?? why are their facial features so small?? it’s firmly in the uncanny valley. shoutout to the Danish cover, though, so pretty: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/0bf9c4f3-3123-4d7b-a6b5-8955ff06e5f6
edit: the Russian hardcover is also beautiful: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/183d6a3b-d207-4cfb-aa9e-e36bc6df3f84 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

redroseses's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Police brutality, and War

frantically's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Was gonna rate this lower but I'm a hoe for chronic illness rep (and fellow ignorers of their chronic illnesses).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, and Classism

Minor: War

_tee_'s review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

1.5

were you meant to despise every character and event in this book, longing to finish? (i especially despised bobbi) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, Abortion, Alcohol, and War

ale15sousa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

nicolinebl's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Definitely prefer this book over Rooney's other novel Normal People, although, to be fair, I was probably a bit too young to read that book back then (time for a re-read!). Her characters are never very likeworthy and  definitely remind me of the main characters in Exciting Times & A Year of Rest and Relaxation. Even though Frances wasn't likeable, she was quite relatable in other ways. I guess you will always relate more to a flawed character than some miss-perfect. 

I'm not quite sure how to describe what I thought of this book other than it feeling like taking a road-trip, getting to know the characters through observing and listening to them. It is a book that is very much about its characters and their actions. It's not a wild adventurous story but I was still on the edge of my seat, curious where the story would go. This is the second book by Sally I've read and her characters tend to be quite pretentious, not sure if that is on purpose or not. I do like the philosophical and intellectual conversations they have with each other though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

sachairi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Self harm, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Minor: Racism, Police brutality, and War

jana16's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Biphobia, Miscarriage, Medical content, Alcohol, and War