Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

14 reviews

iriwindel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Gore, Abortion, Suicide, Blood, and Infidelity

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Pregnancy, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia

tamarant4's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

 

How long did they have to go on, letting the war spoil everything? They had been patient, all this time. They’d lived in darkness. They’d lived without salt, without scent. They’d fed themselves little scraps of pleasure, like parings of cheese. Now she became aware of the minutes as they passed: she felt them, suddenly, for what they were, as fragments of her life, her youth, that were rushing away like so many drops of water, never to return. [loc. 5289]

London, 1947: Kay lives in a half-derelict house owned by a Christian Scientist, mourning a great loss. Helen lives with popular author Julia, but is jealous of Julia's other friends. Duncan works in a candle factory, and lives with an older gentleman he calls 'Uncle Horace'. Duncan's sister Viv lives with her father, works with Helen and is in a relationship with Reggie, who is married. All of them are lonely, miserable and greatly changed by their wartime experiences.

Then Waters takes us back to 1944 and shows us how they got to where they are: the mystery about Duncan's time in prison, Kay being her best self as an ambulance driver during the bombing of London, Helen's infidelity, Viv's catastrophe. And further back, to 1941, as a kind of epilogue: how Kay met Helen, how Viv met Reggie, the evening that Duncan's life changed.

This is a book that demands to be reread: at least, I had to immediately turn back to the first chapters to reread in light of what was only revealed later in the novel. Waters never lapses into explanation: every 1947 scene, every emotion, has its roots in chronologically-earlier events, showing us (rather than telling us) how wartime exigencies shaped and changed each protagonist's life. The prose is lucid and informal, each chapter with the subtly distinct voice of its focal character. (Viv: 'she couldn’t bear it when they started talking so airily about prison, all of that'; Kay: 'with absolutely nothing wrong with her, living like a cripple, like a rat'; Helen: 'as if herds of great, complaining creatures were hurling themselves through the city sewers'; Duncan: 'Never being able to say the thing that people expected'.)

These are ordinary people. Nothing exceptional happens to them. They bear witness to the war, and to its little horrors: a child's jawbone full of milk teeth, a pigeon with its wings ablaze, a botched backstreet abortion. They learn to take each day as it comes. They find moments of joy amid the chaos. And then the war ends, and they are all, in different ways, suddenly lost.

I'm still thinking a lot about this novel (which I have owned for years, but only recently felt ready to read). I think it will haunt me for a while.

Fulfils the ‘Nominated for The Booker Prize’ (it was shortlisted in 2006) rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and War

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Emotional abuse

laurenw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, and Homophobia

Minor: Antisemitism

ninjamuse's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt and Racial slurs

wlarianna's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, War, and Suicide

twelvekindsoftrouble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

This was great !! The characters were easy to connect with, their intertwining narratives were interesting and unique. However. This did not need to be this long; sometimes it felt like the story dragged on unnecessarily instead of focusing on underdeveloped points in the story. The reverse chronological structure was super cool; it changed the meanings of the words and interactions from earlier on in the book, but the jump from a year to a time three years previous sometimes left me wanting for a smoother transition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: War and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia

lilly_anne's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Infidelity, Self harm, War, Blood, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Medical content, Sexual content, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs and Fire/Fire injury

ellislilylovestoread's review

slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Self harm, and War

Moderate: Homophobia

steviaplath's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Abortion, Blood, Suicide, Xenophobia, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, War, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Classism, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Abandonment, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

Minor: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Outing, Ableism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit

jhbandcats's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This, like Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, is one of the best novels - and WWII tales - I've ever read. It follows several women and a man whose lives are intertwined. The book starts in 1947, when London is still bombed out and there are food shortages. The middle section is in 1944, with the "Little Blitz" - like in 1940 but not as intense - wreaking havoc on everyone. The final section is in 1941, and it shows how everyone's story began. It's a fascinating way to tell a story of relationships - you know how they end and gradually see how they developed.

Kay is an ambulance driver who suffers from PTSD; she lives over a clinic and watches the patients come and go. Viv is an office worker having an affair with a married man. Helen, Viv's coworker, lives with her lover Julia, who used to love Kay. Kay and Viv have an unforgettable encounter during the war. Viv's brother Duncan has been in prison and is now living a desolate existence working in a night light factory.

Sarah Waters deftly shows how these people came to meet, fall in love, and fall out of love throughout the course of the war, how it affected them at the time, and how they're living with its aftermath. Her detailed descriptions create a period of terror, bravery, and resilience through the sounds (the ack-ack guns), smells
(an exploded house), tastes (cravings prewar delicacies when eating dry toast), touch (expensive silk pajamas), and sights (lipstick on cigarette butts, filthy bath water). She's one of our best writers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexual content, War, Violence, Classism, Death, and Homophobia