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whitneyborup's review against another edition
5.0
Will easily become one of my favorite books. Dark, funny, disturbing, and insightful. Children are monsters, I tell you. I've been telling you for years.
caterina_1212's review against another edition
The old-fashioned language was more troublesome than the dialect parts, I couldn't get through the language. The introduction should've been a hint, but I gave up after 1 chapter.
alisonvh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
2.0
This book is deeply weird, and while I appreciated parts of the weirdness, it was clear that the author knows nothing about children, and a lot of the things he said about children, especially at the beginning, took me right out of the story he was trying to tell.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Vomit, Sexism, Pedophilia, Death, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
jimmylorunning's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the best books I have ever fucking read. Don't even read this review... Just go read the book already! Then you can come back and read the rest of this review.
First of all the subject matter cannot be better: pirates, kids, pigs, monkeys, goats, earthquakes, hurricanes, clue-less adults.
Secondly, it's the language, stupid! The language is so fucking great. Hughes sometimes forms the most un-intelligeable sentences with the weirdest fucking words, but string them up in a way that gets across something you wouldn't get with a sensible one.
Next, the narrator: he is so funny. He's always coming in at odd times to tell us his opinion, but rarely outright. He's subtle about it.
Also, the book is full of surprises. Every other chapter presents a weird twist. But it's not a plot-heavy book, by that I mean it doesn't rely on the plot or the twists to make it good. Considering the 500-pages worth of shit that happens in this 200-page book, it is surprisingly leisurely and pleasantly aimless in its plot, until closer to the end.
This book is brilliantly crafted to lull you into one state while shocking you constantly out of it.
This book resists to the very end in giving you the sentimentalism you want, in giving in to your pre-conceived ideas of how things should be. And for that it is pure genius.
This book is entertaining in that page-turning way, to the highest degree.
This book is often laugh out loud funny.
This book does not moralize. It is light reading, but also very heavy if you want to read into it. But most of all, it is light.
There is no lull in this book. It goes straight through.
First of all the subject matter cannot be better: pirates, kids, pigs, monkeys, goats, earthquakes, hurricanes, clue-less adults.
Secondly, it's the language, stupid! The language is so fucking great. Hughes sometimes forms the most un-intelligeable sentences with the weirdest fucking words, but string them up in a way that gets across something you wouldn't get with a sensible one.
Next, the narrator: he is so funny. He's always coming in at odd times to tell us his opinion, but rarely outright. He's subtle about it.
Also, the book is full of surprises. Every other chapter presents a weird twist. But it's not a plot-heavy book, by that I mean it doesn't rely on the plot or the twists to make it good. Considering the 500-pages worth of shit that happens in this 200-page book, it is surprisingly leisurely and pleasantly aimless in its plot, until closer to the end.
This book is brilliantly crafted to lull you into one state while shocking you constantly out of it.
This book resists to the very end in giving you the sentimentalism you want, in giving in to your pre-conceived ideas of how things should be. And for that it is pure genius.
This book is entertaining in that page-turning way, to the highest degree.
This book is often laugh out loud funny.
This book does not moralize. It is light reading, but also very heavy if you want to read into it. But most of all, it is light.
There is no lull in this book. It goes straight through.
ozblom24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
thelifetimemuse's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping
beepbeepbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A dream on a blue blue sea...
Hughes makes an amazing work, obscuring the line between adult and child and desire and reality. The violence is always shocking, the psychology both profound and charmingly simple. Narrative-wise it constantly sways, like the tide, between tedium and beautiful unadorned prose. Hughes is just a master of describing indifference, of playing within an emotional or psychic distance and explaining the translation that takes place.
Hughes makes an amazing work, obscuring the line between adult and child and desire and reality. The violence is always shocking, the psychology both profound and charmingly simple. Narrative-wise it constantly sways, like the tide, between tedium and beautiful unadorned prose. Hughes is just a master of describing indifference, of playing within an emotional or psychic distance and explaining the translation that takes place.