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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
dark
sad
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Think it just wasn’t for me, very high concept lit fic
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is extremely hard to describe, really. I think the main take-away for me was that before reading it I had thought there was nothing much new to be said about WWI; I was definitely proven wrong. At Night All Blood is Black is about war, mental illness, racism, colonialism, revenge, brotherhood, sex (often disturbingly so), violence, and just... what war does to humans, which I’m aware makes it sound cliche (but it isn’t). I loved that it focused on Senegalese soldiers fighting for the French army - I didn’t even realise Senegalese units had been involved in WWI beforehand, and it gave a very different perspective on WWI because it wasn’t focused on white European soldiers.
The writing style is very simple and repetitive, which despite coming off as slightly grating at times, overall mostly worked. It really established the protagonist’s voice and the impression of being in his head, and the book is quite short so it didn’t accumulate enough to truly annoy me. That’s another thing worth mentioning: this book is very, very short, but also exactly as long as it needs to be.
A note on the ending: it wasn’t my absolute favourite because I generally don’t enjoy it when books end in a way that’s unexplained and intentionally difficult to understand. But after thinking on it for a while, I think ultimately it made sense to me and fitted the tone of the book, so I can’t really object. At Night All Blood is Black just made such a powerful impression on me, and it’s one of those books I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
The writing style is very simple and repetitive, which despite coming off as slightly grating at times, overall mostly worked. It really established the protagonist’s voice and the impression of being in his head, and the book is quite short so it didn’t accumulate enough to truly annoy me. That’s another thing worth mentioning: this book is very, very short, but also exactly as long as it needs to be.
A note on the ending: it wasn’t my absolute favourite because I generally don’t enjoy it when books end in a way that’s unexplained and intentionally difficult to understand. But after thinking on it for a while, I think ultimately it made sense to me and fitted the tone of the book, so I can’t really object. At Night All Blood is Black just made such a powerful impression on me, and it’s one of those books I’ll be thinking about for a long time.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes