Reviews tagging 'War'

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

36 reviews

riledupryepie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Miriam is a traditional Within the Wires narrator - unreliable and slightly deranged, ethically questionable, and a huge lesbian.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Torture, Dementia, Child death, and War

Minor: Death of parent and Death

aandromeda's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Child death, Medical trauma, and Medical content

hippievamp's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective relaxing sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, War, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Child death, Mental illness, Death of parent, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Infertility, Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

quartzier's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

This book will make you think. If you're interested in sociology, psychology, apocalypse, utopian and dystopian themes, it will definitely enhance your experience of the book. I would beat describe the genre as cerebral horror. The tone is increasingly ominous as you read, and the ending is very much *not* cut and dry, with everything all wrapped up neatly for us, bow and all. I absolutely loved that for this book, and it made me obsessed with the lore and determined to listen to the podcast (Within The Wires) that also takes place in this world- I'm hoping for more lore, because I'm a little bit addicted to the concept and enthralled with the execution. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Torture, and Confinement

Minor: Gore

The themes of this book are inherently datk but are told in retrospect by the narrator and are presented very matter-of-factly for most of the book (as opposed to being written as colorfully and explicitly as possible in order to elicit intense emotional responses from the reader) and in a fairly mild (if sometimes ominous or unsettling) tone. I flagged a lot of content warnings for this book, but many of them are only mildly included, mentioned, and/or moved past and not dwelt upon.

hayleepescod's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death of parent, War, and Medical content

gilroi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 Ultimately, this horror / dystopia / alt history severely pulls its punches with regard to the ending. It's barely spooky, barely horrific, and so light on the dystopian and alt-historical detail that the whole thing feels unsatisfying. The use of end notes to render unreliability and worldbuilding is pretty interesting, however.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, War, and Child death

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Starvation, family separation, child separation, prison abuse, fascism

danielnski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The story itself is excellent, but the way the book layers in a historiographical element really adds to the mystery of the core plot and the unreliable narration. While I don't know if all the plot points are the most relevant, I couldn't put this book down and I can't shake the book and how brilliant it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Abandonment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hahanimation's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

One to reread and reconsider everything again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Torture, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Pregnancy, Violence, War, and Toxic friendship

ru_th's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Everything is irrelevant. 
Everything is important. 
Everything is important, until it is irrelevant. 
Breathe in. Breathe out. Until you cannot. 
Memory is malleable. History is mutable. All I can do is try to make sure my story isn’t lost. I have saved what I can, so you will understand what we have become. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Body horror, War, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death, Pregnancy, Violence, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Torture

dryriver's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this dystopian, post-apocalyptic read. It felt like a true memoir and had a hazy, melancholic feel that added to the clouded truth within the storyline.
Dr. Mariam Gregory was born into the collapse of society during the early 1900s, leading to her immediate family's death and hyperindependence. She eventually learned a method of meditation, called the "watercolor quiet" which she further developed as a quasi-psychologist. This is occasionally interrupted by the "editors" of her memoir, who claim it is riddled with inaccuracies. This book's framing makes it feel dark and questionable, especially as Mariam discovers what has been done with her work. 
While I like the realistic feel of Mariam's recollection, this also makes the storyline feel piecey at times and muddles any clear themes. I wish that the authors pursued some of the large concepts more independently rather than frequently switching the moral focus. I love that they created such intense moral conflicts, but many of these areas felt underdeveloped. Again, maybe this is the result of having a believable personal narrative, but I was left wishing for a bit more. 
Overall I think this is an intriguing novel for those who love post-apocalyptic and morally questionable themes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Abandonment and Forced institutionalization