Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

19 reviews

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

,Let's face it, the world war II genre is overplayed. The writing here wasn't bad, it was good even, but the plot mostly lost me. It mainly follows two people, a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy as they grow up in Europe. The plot just doesn't feel very grabbing or original to me, it's your standard world war II book, with a bit of romance and, for some reason fantasy, thrown in unnecessarily. The short-lived romance between the two main characters seems odd and forced and the up in the air magical artifact McGuffin that then has no actual plot value is downright strange. Honestly, the best parts of this book are the ones that focus on the German boy's sister, and fellow soldier, but even those aren't very original. There's simply so much of the same world war II book a person can read without getting tired of the same old schtick, and this hit the limit for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Gun violence, War, Antisemitism, Bullying, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, Classism, Torture, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Medical content, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Sexual assault, Deportation, and Vomit

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

"We rise again in the grass. In the flowers. In songs." 

I don't know what to tell you about this book. I am glad, that I finished it, even though it was difficult to read about all the suffering. I am so sorry for all the people that have been hurt by hate, greed and nationalism and I wish, history would have been different, but now we can only learn from it and be better. 
This book is so amazingly detailed in it's places, characters, storylines etc. It's a marvel! 
At first it was a little confusing because the chapters weren't really in a chronological order, but it honestly makes sense now. I can recommend this book, though I would tell you, that you need the energy for it. It's not an easy read. 

"When my father left, people said I was brave. But it's not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?" 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, War, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Death, and Death of parent

catherineduplessis's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I mostly rate the books I read according to how they make me feel right after I finish them. 

That doesn’t mean I only like books that are funny and lighthearted, but I also like being intrigued, surprised, kept on my toes or at least being left with some kind of reflection or food for thoughts.

Well this book only made me feel depressed, sad and heartbroken.

It’s not a bad story. The imagery is beautifully written, but it just makes it even more heartbreaking.

The story is set during WWII. I knew it wasn’t going to be all rainbows and butterflies, but I was expecting a little more reflections.. maybe?

I had a glimpse of hope at page 400 (!), but nope, it became even sadder. 

The last 30 pages are the most reflective ones of the whole 530 pages book, but they are still tainted with a dark cloud of death, loneliness and sadness.

Oh, and even if the chapters are very short, the pace is VERY slow. It’s like reading someone’s everyday lives in a very depressing time. There is no plot twist. Just a long slow series of moments in 2 different people’s life slowly becoming more and more lonely and depressing.

All this to say that this book didn’t make me feel good at all and quite the contrary, it put me in a reading slump. It took me a lot longer than I thought to read it because I always wanted to do something else rather than read more of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child death, Death, Torture, War, Confinement, Dementia, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Rape

Moderate: Cancer, Abandonment, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy

polpolpolulu's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was beautiful written, a lot of foreshadowing and many literary devices. Once you get hooked you develop and attachment to the characters which makes the last 100 pages of the book hurt like crazy. This is the second book I’ve read in a long time that has made me cry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, War, Vomit, Cancer, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Child death, Classism, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, and Grief

rebekahvldz's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I came to this book with the expectations of a crushing, thrilling tale- a romance between two lovers or friends not fated to end up together amidst a turbulent World War 2 backdrop. I expected heartbreak, insights and a lot of sobbing a la Book Thief. This absolutely was a romance book but not between people- rather it was two characters who fell in love with everything and everyone around them, who would do anything to preserve the life they lived so dearly in the countries they were loyal to. It was interesting to see the contrast between what that meant for both characters and both of them did end up breaking my heart in small ways. But there was no fanfare finale, no resolution to the two particular storylines that suggested the story was moving forward. It was kind of worse in a way, because it lacked those. I still loved the book- , the writing was poetic and enthralling, the characters were passionate, curious and dedicated and made me love the things they did but I will say there was no major plot here. It was more a study of two characters, an exploitation of their passions and how that interacted with the impending war but again no grand sweeping story. It was still beautiful, of course and I did enjoy it but I was still waiting for the story to start at page 450. Other than me turning the pages, I would’ve had no indication that the story was moving forward. And each chapter spends only a couple pages with either character so you don’t really get to sink your teeth in, despite the 527 pages. I thought it was worth the read but I deeply wish I had come with no preconceived notions- I might have enjoyed it more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Violence, Grief, Genocide, and War

Moderate: Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Excrement, Blood, and Animal death

sjanke2's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

aaryan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

lou_o_donnell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

eleennaeisloved's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Rape