Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

4 reviews

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A tragic but funny book about growing up in a chaotic household where there is alcohol and drug addiction and domestic violence.  Parents are friends with ex criminals.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Medical content, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.75

Trent Dalton doesn't shy away from showing the darker bits of Australian society that we rarely get to see. Because this perspective is rarely shown, I would consider this book worth reading. I would warn fellow readers that this makes the book continuously confronting and it is certainly not a lighthearted read.
This provides the backdrop of a story that is far-fetched with descriptive writing that is quite abstract. I am sure there are people out there that would love this book but I found it was trying to be more profound than it actually is.
I also found that the female characters weren't as fully formed or complex as the male ones which is frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

56bumblebees's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

sharyce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Overall this book wasn’t too bad, but there were just a few too many things that I didn’t like to give it a higher rating. The book took way to long for me to get into - I had to force myself to read the first half, many of the characters were unlikeable - especially Caitlyn Spies and her relationship with the protagonist Eli Bell, and although this book was written with a touch of magic realism, the whole ending just felt too unrealistic, causing the book as a whole to feel slightly disjointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Gun violence, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit