Reviews tagging 'Death'

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

15 reviews

boombaeyah's review

informative 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

4.5

A very compelling tale of a woman coming into herself after rebirth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

lennie_reads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

After seeing the film it's easy to see where the inspirations came from, and it certainly made it easier to picture certain things. 

Whilst I loved the film, with it's stunningly unique visuals and fantastic cast, the book, as a whole, grabbed me just a bit more. It's hard to explain if you've not read it (because of spoilers) but it was a solid 4 stars for me until the last 3rd of the book which bumped it up to 5. 

It's such a weird unique clever little book. 

I Definitely recommend picking it up, and preferably as an audiobook if you have the chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Violence, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Child abuse, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Racism

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.25

What keeps me from giving it 5 stars is that I fear the author did not intend what I got out of it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Incest, Miscarriage, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, Blood, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Insane last chapter: Gray deconstructs & satirises not just the novel but class, love & objectivity in storytelling/history. Keen to see how the film compares! 3🧠 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Classism, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide, and Terminal illness

applesodaperson's review

dark funny inspiring slow-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? Yes

4.5

In general, I enjoy reading the book before watching the movie adaptation, because then I am able to form my own mental images and character appearances without that outside influence. But I am so glad I didn't do that for this book/movie. Because holy cow the movie is absolutely gorgeous. Like the aesthetic and vibes are so ethereal and borer on retro steampunk futurism, and omg the costumes are breathtaking. And so I could never have come up with something that beautiful on my own, so I am glad it was already in my head while reading this book.
Overall, the book was fairly similar to the movie. I did not really like that the book was mostly from McCandless's perspective. Bella is the main characters, and it should be formatted that way in order to showcase that. She really is just such an awesome character. 
I also liked the illustrations a lot. They were just kind of fun and quirky.
One thing that I did not like about this book was the part at the end where there is a letter from Bella, where

she accuses McCandless of just lying and making the entire thing up. Which holy cow I feel like this was so not needed. It feels like it undermines everything that the story talked about, and takes so much power away from Bella. But then the thing about her brain being a different age from her body at the end bring in some even more unnecessary confusion. It should have just been clear that what happened actually happened.

But overall I loved this book!
Read borrowed copy from Hannah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Death

dyilmaz090's review

dark mysterious medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

themorsecode's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Cursing, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma

gordyfromschool's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Incest, Classism, Physical abuse, Abortion, Body horror, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, and Colonisation

anntharai's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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

It's a weird book, okay? A really fkn weird book, but just go with it and things will come together for you at unexpected moments. 

This book looks at stories themselves, the lenses we read them through, the perspectives and biases of the tellers. There is a lot to unpack with this story as well as the construction of the book itself. 

Honestly it was a solid 3 star read until about 75% when it skyrocketed for me. 

Reading this ahead of watching the film and I'm genuinely curious as to how they'll treat the story, because it could be incredible or it could be a disaster. 

It is funny. I promise. Perhaps not in the side holding, tears welling, fits of giggles way but the satirical, deadpan sarcasm, and observational political humour is front and centre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Infidelity, Addiction, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Grief, Death, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Suicide