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momisty24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, and Classism
chanatova's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Police brutality
Minor: Homophobia
isabeldotml's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Child death and Forced institutionalization
brrrbird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Animal death and Stalking
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War
notthatcosta's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The bottom line is that I didn't really like a single character in the book, and even the protagonist made some infuriating decisions at points and overall my feeling was 'this place is not for you, you are above these people and you need to get the hell out of there' - which although a simplification, seemed preferable to sticking around in such a place. Also, her mum was a total arsehole and I don't know if I was supposed to like her, but I certainly didn't.
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I feel like most of the aspects I took issue with were at least strong intentional stylistic choices made by the author, and I can always respect a big swing.
Oh and ALSO, the random 11th hour gay subplot was egregious.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
rcsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Child death
lauraspeechly's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Murder
annick's review against another edition
4.25
The collective and generational traumas of sectarian violence has so many layers of pain and numbness and miscommunication in this book. The narrator’s experience of being stalked by an unwanted older man, becomes hard to bear when she reveals she is misunderstood and cannot trust any others to help her escape this situation with Milkman.
I enjoyed the writing style. No names but descriptions. But who was Jason ? And Neil? They were mentioned near the end.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Gaslighting
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Milkman is a story of our unnamed protagonist Third Sister as she quite literally buries her head in her favourites books and tries to get by in the manic world of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Burns uses a long flowing stream of conscious style format, which really works at times to get into the turmoil and chaos of the unusual events. However, in other seemingly irrelevant drawn out sections it had be pulling my hair out and losing concentration quite easily.
The book has a very closed in claustrophobic nature to it which in hindsight was a fantastic portrayal of what everyone must have been feeling in those communities at the time, however it does make the book quite arduous to read.
This is a book that demands your attention for every single word and insists you fully invest into it's quite unusual format. If you can immerse yourself fully then chances are you will love it.
For me, I found the first 40% dragged on and to be honest if I wasn't doing the buddy read hosted by @lostinlaurensbooks I probably would have given up. That said I did begin to enjoy it for the remaining 60% and am very glad I stuck with it.
A challenging immersive read which continues to split opinions however there's no doubt it is a great piece of literary fiction.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
tracikennedy25's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Homophobia and Violence
Minor: Child death, Suicide, and Death of parent