Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

3 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

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