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inirac's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexism, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism
Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
emilo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Transphobia
Minor: Homophobia, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War
junothan's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Trudged through this book to try to see what other people saw in it and never found it. Going into the book as a nonbinary person I was really looking forward to the gender commentary it receives praise for but I found it very lackluster. I feel like its major themes are of writing, nature, and aristocracy more so than gender. It was all in all very boring as well and I found myself thinking "okay, let's wrap up this thought now" over and over, but that probably just means the stream of consciousness style just isn't for me. Ultimately it was a miss 🤷
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol
aardwyrm's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Just gonna start with the fact that like many things labeled as subversive and full of subtext *for its time*, it's just frantically racist. Spare yourself that if you want. And most of the transgressive queerness is vanilla and silly if you're not living in a pretty repressed portion of 1928.
Like many things occupied with being literature and saying things of importance, the book doesn't have much in the way of characters or plot, but it's not really about either of those things, it's about wry social commentary from a position that doesn't recognize itself as privileged and blinkered, and it's pretty good at being that? I'd never noticed that Douglas Adams had some very Virginia Woolf rhythms before, anyway. And a rewrite that dealt with the fact that this is in fact a sci-fi novel would be fascinating.
Like many things occupied with being literature and saying things of importance, the book doesn't have much in the way of characters or plot, but it's not really about either of those things, it's about wry social commentary from a position that doesn't recognize itself as privileged and blinkered, and it's pretty good at being that? I'd never noticed that Douglas Adams had some very Virginia Woolf rhythms before, anyway. And a rewrite that dealt with the fact that this is in fact a sci-fi novel would be fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation