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A review by thomme_k
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A profoundly disturbing book, that I found challenging in the engagement with the dark spectra of the main character's psyche, as I simultaneously rooted for him - at least in part - whilst finding him abhorrent, and wondered whether the author expected me to find him attractive.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, and War
Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
It deals with the colonisation of the British Isles by the Norman invaders, including all of the violence that a military occupation - and guerrilla warfare against that occupation - involves.
It becomes progressively clearer through the book that the main character and narrator may be suffering from undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia.