Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

13 reviews

paxtyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Rape, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my first by Louise Erdrich, and I know I'll read more. As beautifully written as it is devastating, this premise is dark - a mother is brutally raped and nearly murdered, escaping - just barely - with her life at the very start of our story. With the discovery of the crime, the lives of every person in her orbit shift radically. This is written in first-person through the perspective of her thirteen-year-old son, Joe, and you can feel in every scene how he teeters between childhood and adulthood, at times falling into silly Star Trek games and juvenile inside jokes with his best friends, and at others, resenting his parents for the fall-out from the crime as he tries to unravel the mystery himself. Joe's fears, anxieties, resentment, curiosity, and growing self-awareness are deeply painful to read as an adult, as we see the aging effect of childhood trauma and the ripples of the crime in every part of his life. 

Joe's personal liminality is reflected in Erdrich's depiction of life on the reservation. We take long detours through Catholicism and the local church and see the ways in which colonizing religions have influenced various people and families in their tribe, and we sense the disharmony of these traditions and their own. In the end, as Joe journeys toward revenge, he finds himself seeking reassurance and validation in both Catholic and Ojibwe tradition, alternately leaning on stories of Sins Crying out for Vengeance and the wiindigoo. Erdrich sets the crime itself in just such a liminal space - occurring, in part, within the Round House, a sacred space for the Ojibwe, but occurring in part at an intersection of tribal and "fee" lands. This liminality becomes the crux of the injustice in our story, and Erdrich shows us how the very real lack of sovereignty for Indigenous communities undermines their ability to protect themselves and their lands, and how it has specifically betrayed Indigenous victims of sexual violence.

There is so much that can be said about how Erdrich builds the narrative - the lack of quotation marks that give it a stream of consciousness feel at times, the storytelling woven throughout, the anecdotal detours, the wide cast of characters and the decision to confine the story to Joe's point of view. Altogether, these decisions create a world haunted by many ghosts, one in which we can see the ripples of action and inaction across people and generations, and one in which justice feels illusory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Car accident

library_anne's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Murder

aidareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

very well executed. this will stuck with me for a long time probably

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Colonisation

lorenag5's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

indrabindra's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Car accident

bangishimokwe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation

voidflowers's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ashfantastic98's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit

suzanlemont's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was an incredibly well-written book with so many well-structured elements: suspense/mystery, family relationships, adolescence/coming of age, Native American culture. The ending would normally leave me upset but the author has the wise foresight to weave in some threads earlier on that let you know that the end of the book is not all there is, and this saved it from becoming one of those stories I hate that leave you dangling and dissatisfied. The casually descriptive language adds texture and wit to an-already compelling story and an air of authenticity that I could feel in my bones. This is neither a romanticized nor grungy/bigoted view of life on a Native American reservation - the characters are fresh and honest, the emotions are real without being overwhelming or just for shock effect. Very well done; i was riveted. There are even a few chuckles.  Now I wan to go back and read Erdrich's Love Medicine which I read a very long time ago because I think she's brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Colonisation

None of the triggers were very overwhelming/are all thoughtfully handled.