Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

95 reviews

astridrv's review against another edition

Reading this book felt like watching Hard to be a god. Can't recommend it but don't regret it. And the author sure is a poet. All of the content warnings..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Excrement

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

xoopa's review

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

2.5

This book talks about shared grief and personal and religious guilt from the point of a view of a pre teen girl. It’s a beautifully written book and quite poignant at times. But all of this is overwhelmingly drowned out by the amount of graphic details of animal and sexual cruelty and references. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Excrement, Incest, Child abuse, Grief, and Self harm

ellislilylovestoread's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Child death, Incest, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Death, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Sexual assault, and Rape

janey_bones's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

DNF. This book was sad and difficult to read personally. The writing was beautiful and I really loved it but it was triggering for me in the context of early childhood trauma, neglect and grief. Complex and beautiful but not for me, right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Grief

mel_j's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child death, Child abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt

sidekicksam's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Dit hele boek is ongemak. Rijneveld laat geen schunnig onderwerp onbesproken, van aanranding en verkrachting tot het penetreren van koeien, en het was op sommige stukken echt een heel ongemakkelijk boek om te lezen. 

Maar het was wel goed. 

We volgen Jas, wiens broer Matthies door een noodlottig ongeluk om het leven komt. Haar gezin is ontwricht door de uitval van haar oudste broer: vader praat er niet over, moeder stopt met eten, en haar broer Obbe en zusje Hanna krijgen de ruimte niet om hun verdriet een plekje te geven. 

Jas loodst ons door thema's als de dood, rouw, religie, leven in een boerengemeenschap, puberteit, seksualiteit en fantasie heen met de nieuwsgierige en open blik van een 12-jarige, waardoor het door tragedie doordrenkte verhaal niet aanvoelt als een steen in de maag. Het jeukt, het kriebelt en het fronsen staat je nader dan het lachen, maar dat maakt het boek alleen maar beter. Van wat ik in andere recensies las, ligt het wellicht ook aan de taal; het spreekt wel erg tot de verbeelding in de eigen taal, wat zorgt dat je eerder gruwelt van de inhoud dan wanneer je het in het Engels leest. 

Als stadskind kan ik me geen inbeelding maken van hoe het leven in een dorp moet zijn geweest, maar ik geloof dat sommige elementen van dit boek dat wel goed weergeven. Het boek is doordrenkt van tragedie, maar leest verrassend 'makkelijk' weg voor hoe ongelukkig de personages zijn. 

Ik lees eerst even zo'n 15-20 andere boeken voor ik weer een Lucas Rijneveld boek pak, maar een volgende komt er! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Animal death, Self harm, Incest, Gore, Grief, Excrement, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness

noodletime's review

Honestly this book depressed me too much. The darkness was just unrelenting. DNF @ 30% for self care reasons 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

aisistoashes's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Grief, Child death, and Death

paperknotbooks's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

I think this will throw off my reader friend who’ve all rated this book 1-3/5 ⭐️s from the disturbing content. Yes, there is a lot of “ick,”  perversion, and animal cruelty, but I was charmed by Rijneveld’s writing and submerged in the story.  I loved the narrative voice: obviously young and naive, but with literary aptitude for quiet details. Probably will bumpy this up to a 5-⭐️ if it truest borrows itself into my memory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Grief, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Gore, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Torture, and Self harm

chloesnotscared's review

challenging dark slow-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: Grief, Animal death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Vomit and Excrement