Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

6 reviews

asolis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

Little library find. Six stories nested within each other - you pass halfway through each until you reach the center and work your way back through each second half in reverse order. While the stories are clearly linked together, I expected a stronger connection to reveal itself over time. 

I admit most of them took a minute to get into and I almost quit the whole book about 5 pages in. But once you get the hang of each story's dialect it draws you in hard. 

A lot of racism and I often wondered whether it was for effect, "historical accuracy," or why it was necessary. But ultimately it contributes to the overall track towards anticapitalism and environmentalism, a warning against white supremacy and the havoc it has and will wreak upon our planet and its people. 

I was pleased to benefit from my recent reading of Brave New World and 1984, which are especially referenced in the 5th story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Vomit, Cannibalism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Genocide, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Death, and Confinement

thinkingrobot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual violence, Violence, Slavery, Death, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

auggiet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

beautiful !! some parts were slower than others depending on your preference of story telling and genre, but as a whole this book far exceeded my expectations after seeing some not-so-great reviews. the commentary on cyclicality and self-destruction on historical scales and in individual instances feels like something ive been trying to put into words myself for a while now. definitely a book that ill be thinking about for a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug use, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Death, Vomit, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Xenophobia, War, Drug abuse, Racism, Car accident, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Dementia, Grief, and Gun violence

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cannibalism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Car accident, Murder, and Racial slurs

interesting_struggle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Animal death, Colonisation, Cursing, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

runningdowndelaney's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

It is an accurate assessment to say this is a book of two halves. The first is a bit of a slog. My attitude towards the characters wavered between sympathy and contempt. The device of

interrupting the narrative at the moment of a significant event

began overstaying its welcome quite quickly. You get the idea it's going somewhere and is building. Then comes the midpoint section. The breaks released then, and the characters all began to whizz past. These second halves contained

the various resolutions to issues from the first halves

, and it brought the threads together. It is less of a single cohesive narrative, more of a collection of short stories that has imagery from others in the body of work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

Minor: Abandonment and Vomit