Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

12 reviews

deestreet's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced
  • 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? No

3.75


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sierrabowers's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did like this book, but it was a slow read, and I struggled with how I felt about one of the main characters. I didn’t like what he was doing but at the same time, I knew he had no choice, and ultimately was very sad at what ended up happening. It’s not often that a book can shock me, and this one SHOOK me at the ending. Overall, I liked it but I wouldn’t reread and I wish it would have had an underlying subplot to make it more interesting. 

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miller8d's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I didn’t dislike reading it— I enjoyed the character development and world-building, but the fact that it was all out of order and time-jumpy was a complete and horrible mess and was extremely frustrating to try and keep track of what was going on at any given moment. Also I HATE knowing the end/climax of a book at the beginning, so that ruined it too.

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shaleen64's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book is beautifully written with two characters at its centre. Both lovable in their own way, both forced towards different goals but ultimately brought together by a sense of doing what is right.

The book makes you view the Second World War in a different light without becoming a history text book. There’s heartbreak, anger, horror and despair but hope and love throughout.

If you loved the Book Thief, or anything similar, this should be your next read.

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mdwsn27's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75


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zosiablue's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

GodDAMN 😭

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jlearnwriter's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • 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


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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It took me months to get through this one, for whatever reason. But I actually appreciated the time I took. It helped me conceptualize how long these characters suffered during the war. My slow reading matched the slower paced plot too. In general I’m a little worn out on WWII fiction, but I can appreciate the skill this writer has. There was so much brilliant poignancy, even when not much action was happening. It reminds me of The Goldfinch in that way. I’m interested to check out Doerr’s other work! I bet I’ll like it even more than this, it not being WWII historical fiction. I just don’t need depressing war stories in my life these days!

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rachelmorag's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

3.25


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orchidlilly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

,Let's face it, the world war II genre is overplayed. The writing here wasn't bad, it was good even, but the plot mostly lost me. It mainly follows two people, a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy as they grow up in Europe. The plot just doesn't feel very grabbing or original to me, it's your standard world war II book, with a bit of romance and, for some reason fantasy, thrown in unnecessarily. The short-lived romance between the two main characters seems odd and forced and the up in the air magical artifact McGuffin that then has no actual plot value is downright strange. Honestly, the best parts of this book are the ones that focus on the German boy's sister, and fellow soldier, but even those aren't very original. There's simply so much of the same world war II book a person can read without getting tired of the same old schtick, and this hit the limit for me.

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