Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

64 reviews

squintyfarmer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Abandonment, Sexual content, Medical content, Death, Violence, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer and Dementia

kelkelkelkelly's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

This book moved me to tears and out loud laughter, sometimes within one paragraph. It’s beautifully written with wry observational humour. Cyril is a flawed yet deeply lovable narrator, and the supporting cast of characters are vivid, complex, and engaging. The novel follows Cyril’s life as it intersects with some of the most important historical events of the last century in Irish and global events. From grief to lust to shame to love, this book paints a beautiful portrait of a life lived.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

Includes a vivid depiction of neglect of an adopted child, harm caused by the Catholic Church

alhelton's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Classism, Death, and Hate crime

Minor: Fatphobia

jessife's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry

emlibe's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Kidnapping, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Minor: Pedophilia and Police brutality

katiejohns's review

emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Death, Murder, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Kidnapping

charlied10's review

challenging funny informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.5

A book of two halves! 
I nearly gave up on this one in the first half.  Characters were 2D and not likeable.  I got weary of the constant sexual obsessing. 
The second half was completely different!  Cyril’s character develops significantly, and characters around him are much more interesting and likeable.  His experiences in key moments of world social history were educational and interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry

breaklikeafish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book has made me feel so many emotions that it took me a while to collect my thoughts and write a review. I'm absolutely blown away by John Boyne's writing style. Somehow, the story is one of the funniest pieces of writing I've read recently and simultaneously absolutely heartbreaking.

We, the reader, follow the protagonist Cyril Avery through his entire life in several parts separated by seven-year time skips. I loved that structure and think it was very well executed. The way everything that happens in Cyril's life seems interconnected, and some people remain constant during all stages, while unrealistic, made for a very engaging read. I honestly would not have thought I'd rate this book a solid five stars after the first half because some characters' atrocious actions seemed to be explained away with too little discussion for my liking. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the latter chapters addressed every issue and tied up Cyril's life story so well that I wouldn't change anything about it.

This also made for very realistic character development for Cyril and the other characters. Cyril's internal monologue changes and grows with him. Still, he maintains a very distinctive style. He describes his life's story with so much wit and humor that I laughed out loud several times. Literally.

Some plot points and most of the dialogue seem entirely unrealistic. However, I found that I had a better experience with the novel overall after I accepted that Cyril might not be the most reliable narrator and the events were simply told through his eyes. For example, both Cyril and Julian's obsession with sex from an extremely young age seemed extremely disturbing and not at all funny to me, but given the trajectory of Cyril's life and the role his own sexuality colored almost every aspect of the first few decades of his life, it kind of makes sense that he would fixate on and exaggerate these parts of his early life.

My favorite part, as much as I loved Cyril's journey, remained the first one. I thought having Cyril narrate his mother's story despite not being born at the time was a very interesting narrative choice. I would totally read an entire novel told in that way.

In conclusion, this one goes firmly on my list of recommendations! It touched some very deep emotions in me and managed to make me laugh on the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Infidelity, Death, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Outing, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Cursing

fed's review

dark emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

lemonem's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

I didn’t want it to end! Beautiful, emotional, funny, I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Violence and Kidnapping