Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

23 reviews

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I can see why this book  didn't do it for a lot of people- the writing was experimental, the characters were almost caricactures. But that's the point, and there's a lot this novel has to say about the nature of history, of memory, and how the two entwine. 

If nothing else, this quote is the soul of the story: 
<quote> "Why do we not make the story more premium than life? It seems to me that we are making the story even inferior. We often make ourselves appear as though we are foolish people, and we make our voyage, which was an ennobled voyage, appear very normal and second rate. We could give your grandfather two arms, and could make him high-fidelity. We could give Brod what she deserves in the stead of what she gets. We could even find Augustine, Jonathan, and you could thank her, and Grandfather and I could embrace, and it could be perfect and beautiful, and funny, and usefully sad, as you say. We could even write your grandmother into your story. This is what you desire, yes? Which makes me think that perhaps we could write Grandfather into the story. Perhaps, and I am only uttering this, we could have him save your grandfather. He could be Augustine. August, perhaps. Or just Alex, if that is satisfactory to you. I do not think that there are any limits to how excellent we could make life seem.” </quote>

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this, and how it relates to the repeated urge of an audience to erode away the uncomfortable or sad aspects of literature- the "fan" response to Brokeback Mountain comes to mind. There is a lot of not so "premium" things in the novel, and this is the point the author is trying to make. 

My one real sticking point is the Romani girl. I truly feel as if she could have been handled better, especially as shes' the only Romani character in the novel, and the establishment that her family was abusive on top of that does put a bitter taste in my mouth, and not in the bracing way I got from the rest of the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexism, Hate crime, Infidelity, Grief, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Genocide, and Cursing

Moderate: Excrement, Suicide, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

kerrence30's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I struggled to get into this book, needing to go back and re-listen a few times particularly at the beginning. It picked up once the story properly started at about halfway through. 
The first half sets up the story in a slightly clunky way, introducing characters from various generations, without any links or understanding of how they are necessary to the story. This has not been an issue as a reader previously with other books with a similar set up. I would say all the characters are flawed, much like real life, which helps with familiarity as a reader, but doesn’t make them any more endearing. The style of conversation of the characters is very quirky and repetitive, which fits with the overall style of the book up until this point, but I’ll admit it gets a bit tiresome after a while.
The second half is mostly about the main storyline and ties in the other generational throwbacks as it goes which helps with understanding and the flow of the story. By the end I really enjoyed this story itself. I’m not sure how faithful or otherwise it is to the goings on in Ukraine at this time, but it feels like a worthwhile story to tell. I'm not sure how the use of specific literary devices could have been tweaked to improve the overall impression of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Infidelity

Moderate: Vomit and Gun violence

Minor: Rape

lautreamont's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

I actually picked up this book in a little free library months ago simply because I remembered really liking the movie back when I was a teen and finally got around to reading it recently. I cant believe I overlooked that book all of these years because I honestly believe it to be a masterpiece of modern literature. The games of language and words to interlace comedy and sadness is super reminiscent of Joyce's style which I absolutely adore.
I earnestly laughed out loud many times and cried once reading this.
Of course, it can be quite experimental writing and not suited for everyone but if you are open to that its a wonderful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Rape

sujong127's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Genocide, and Suicide

moonlighthepburn's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Antisemitism, Sexism, and Misogyny

flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Pregnancy, Racism, Death, Suicide, Antisemitism, War, Genocide, Ableism, Blood, Sexual content, and Infidelity

yanskeedoodle's review

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Self harm, Death, Suicide, War, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Sexual violence

strange_abalone's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I do not understand the point of Jonathan’s grandfathers sexual exploits becoming such a focal point in the latter half of the book, it was so distracting from the deeper parts of the story that I have lost all interest in the parts I did enjoy in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, War, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

nahae's review

2.25

The writing is witty, but the misogyny is grossly rampant & the plot confusing. And the obsession with sex including child rape— not sure how that furthered the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, and Rape

alyssatuininga's review

challenging medium-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

1.0

This book is absolutely horrible. Save your money and time and.read something else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, War, Sexual assault, and Violence