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mansinnikam's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Suicide attempt, Torture, War, Grief, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, Infidelity, Mental illness, Police brutality, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Violence
sherbertwells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
“Despite my years of struggling both for and with this country, I have not managed to replace it, to drive it out of me like an evil spirit that beset me. No ritual purification, no repression mechanism has yet been of any assistance. Because everywhere I went, travelling further and further from my country, I was searching for the squandered, scattered, wasted, unused love I’d left behind” (10)
“For Daria and me, the Soviet Union meant: constant funeral marches and processions as aged gentlemen of the Communist Party were carried to their graves; carnations everywhere, macabre spectacles broadcast on all the television channels. For us, the Soviet Union meant: endless summer camps, Pioneer neckerchiefs. Tea plantations, apiaries, and kolkoɀes. White knee-socks from China, tapestries of hunting scenes on the walls, Mishka Na Severe chocolates, and Lagidze’s tarragon lemonade. Our grandfather’s GAZ-13, the brightly coloured blocks of Plasticine with the frog on them, yellow Krya-Krya children’s shampoo, Grandfather’s Start shaving cream, the talcum powder in the bathroom cabinet with the cat’s head on the pot, which we weren’t allowed to use. Hygiene body lotion and Stasia’s Red Moscow perfume, which smelled of old people and was enough to give you a headache. The odorless brown bath-soap that was actually called ‘Bath Soap’” (631)
“Live through all wars. Cross all borders. To you I dedicate all gods and all rosaries, all burnings, all decapitated hopes, all stories. Break through them. Because you have the means to do it, Brilka. The eight—remember it. All of us will always be interwoven in this number and will always be able to listen to each other, down through the centuries” (6)
Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Infertility, Homophobia, Cancer, and Child abuse
Minor: Antisemitism, Fatphobia, and Cannibalism