Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Iliad by Homer

69 reviews

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Incest and Sexual violence

jeslis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

Notes:
- Loved this so much! Lost my mind over Achilles and Patroclus but who's surprised.
- Themes of grief, anger and love were so interesting to me. In general I enjoyed how these universal emotions/experiences were explored in a way that is so applicable even now 3000 years later, and how they were addressed through specifics of the characters but also on a level that felt larger than the characters themselves.
- Taking off 0.5 just because it was a bit of a slog getting through the list of ships and some of the battle combat descriptions, but they were important in building up context for the heavy emotional points at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Slavery

cpratreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I did not enjoy reading this book. It was such a slog. 

I am not a big fan of war focused narratives, so that part is on me. But the descriptions are simply too in-depth. I also would have an existential crisis if I lived in this book, as the Gods seem to always do what they want, except when they don't, so it doens't even make anything feel important. 

If you like lists, then boy do I have a story for you. The lists in this book are endless, and include: the name of every ship being sailed including a description and how many men are on board - the name of every person who dies ever in this war, how they die, and who they are related to - the names of everyone that participates in any sort of game, wager, race, etc.  A list lovers dream, truely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol

michaelatrelby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

The Lombardo translation is really fantastic, and accessible to a reader who is looking for digestible, contemporary language. Highly recommend if you have never read through the Iliad before.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: War, Gore, Grief, Violence, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Animal death, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Rape, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

b0ygenius's review against another edition

I'll finish this at some point i swear

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child death, War, Blood, and Death

valenwhite's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

It was a bit too slow at times, and the fact that they'd just jump to 4-page speeches about their ancestry in the middle of the battlefield took me out of it, but the second half of the book gets more interesting and it was easier to digest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Slavery

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Infidelity, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Incest, Vomit, Gun violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, and Excrement

chaos_positive's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

as dense as a overbaked fruit cake but if you are willing to take the trudge, it has a lot of very poignant themes, Achilles being chronically very angry, so many different ways people get killed by spears, genuinely very impressive, and if you choice to listen to it, even the very very long lists of who killed who and who's son they were become very rhythmic almost like a drumbeat march of the dead. also if you're tired of men in media not showing emotion you best believe these murder hobos clad in bronze cry for their fallen friends. also it might even make you laugh a few times like

there is actually two ajaxes and they are by in large referred to as ajax and ajax , also my favorite quote is, "ajax, you are excellent at quarreling and terrible at thinking" an absolutely marvelous insult

you might not like it if you are really put off about women literally being treated as objects, it was written a few thousand years before the suffragettes made that unpopular. (if you want the same vibes but with women with more agency check out the odyssey, women hold more power in that one and aren't traded like baseball cards)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Grief, Blood, Animal death, Slavery, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

it's very bloody and unforgiving, nobody is spared the suffering, but it's written in a way that distances you because it is so matter of fact about these things, a "this is how things are, no point dwelling on them unnecessarily" attitude.