julesloyola's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Violence, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery
Minor: Antisemitism, Car accident, and Child abuse
caintooth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Confinement and Self harm
vespasiana's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical content, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Body horror, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, and Rape
Minor: Trafficking and Child death
While all the above things do happen in the book, both on and off screen, the bulk of the plot is about the “before” and “after”. Very little of the extreme or moderate stuff is shown for long, but is referenced very frequently in the “after” sections as something the main character is dealing from the fallout of.ladymickbeth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Child death, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
This is a beautifully written book with a unique and engaging narrative voice and characters that are flawed, but likeable or understandable. I would have given this a higher rating, but there are a number of micro aggressions (primarily against Emilio, who is Latino) and problematic comments.cocacolor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Spoiler
victims of sexual violenceETA. Its sequel, CHILDREN OF GOD, makes clearer the author & narrative's ethical positions and I believe this book is coming from a place of compassion.
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Medical content, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Cannibalism, War, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Child death, and Self harm
Minor: Pregnancy
inkfingers's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Spoiler
The putting together of the mission and crew does feel extremely convenient, but the characters consider the pieces falling together a sign of divine intervention but question it later as things go wrong. As long as the reader is willing to meet the book on its own terms and see it as a kind of eucatastrophe, it does reward the suspension of disbelief.Spoiler
The horrible end of the mission is hinted at from the beginning, and a careful reader may guess what went wrong, but Russell holds the whole truth back until the last fifty pages of the book when Emilio finally tells the Father General what happened. Then the catastrophe plays out at breakneck speed and earns 80% of the novel’s tag warnings in quick succession so heed those even if you aren’t very squeamish.This book is a discussion of faith and suffering in the league of Silence by Shūsaku Endō, offering no easy answers about a crisis of faith and God’s silence.
The last fifty pages of this book laid me out like a Victorian lady taken to her bed with a dreadful illness, and I expect I won’t recover until I read the sequel.
Graphic: Child death and Rape
Moderate: Violence and Vomit
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Medical content
lesbegays's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, and Xenophobia