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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
challenging
dark
sad
tense
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible book. Very disturbing and graphic, reader beware. It will make an impact on you if you can stick with it since it presents a nearly-unfathomable perspective of a gypsy orphan's experience fleeing his persecutors during WWII.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
This dark, scathing story of an unnamed country at the start of the Second World War (presumed to be the author's native Poland) is terrifyingly graphic, yet the horror the child protagonist endures is not directly from the Nazis but the superstitious peasant villagers he encounters as he wonders alone through the countryside. Covering everything from incest to bestiality, it is perhaps unsurprising that it was banned in Poland for many years and that Kosinski lived out the rest of his troubled life in the United States. Regardless of the murky history of the book and its author, I found it an insightful angle from which to cover the lives of ordinary people during a period of unrest and dramatic political and social change. A recommended read - if you have a strong stomach.
Wow. I have never read anything like this.
The trauma the protagonist experiences is unimaginable. It is horrific.
I found the ending quite sad, finally his parents returned but after all those years on his own, fighting for survival, you just knew he would never be able to settle back into 'normal' life.
A very dark read but I have to say I've of the best I've ever read.
The trauma the protagonist experiences is unimaginable. It is horrific.
I found the ending quite sad, finally his parents returned but after all those years on his own, fighting for survival, you just knew he would never be able to settle back into 'normal' life.
A very dark read but I have to say I've of the best I've ever read.
It's really wild that people thought this was an autobiography and that he tried tricking people into thinking it was an autobiography
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War