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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, War
Moderate: Rape
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There's some really brutal writing here about war and colonialism and the lives that get swallowed up in them, but I found the first few chapters difficult to wade through (the first was interesting but the next few repeated the story with only minor additions - I believe this is intended to match oral tradition style but it was a challenge for me) and I didn't like the writing about any of the women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, War
Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Violence, Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
graphic. set in wwI trenches following senegalese soldier fighting for french army. he's priased for killing by the french but quickly turned into a black onster witch/socerer when killings of the enemy go "too far"
challenging
dark
slow-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
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is perhaps the most powerful book I’ve ever read. I’m so grateful that I knew nothing going in and it’s difficult to review without spoiling it.
War, colonialism, family, friendship. So much conveyed in so few words. The pervasive repetitions communicate the inner turmoil and sorrow.
“Everything is double”. Dualities abound, culminating in the ultimate duality of its ending.
War, colonialism, family, friendship. So much conveyed in so few words. The pervasive repetitions communicate the inner turmoil and sorrow.
“Everything is double”. Dualities abound, culminating in the ultimate duality of its ending.
Madness, after the captain blows the whistle to retreat, is taboo.
are you kidding me
Was a really good book overall, just found that the ending didn’t make much sense and less related to the plot or what had been described earlier. Still very well written however!!
more a book about masculinity than about war in my opinion. we follow a man who believes he is divine for most of this book and how he deals with crippling shame about his passivity towards his most beloved friend. thus, while the text reads like a psychological exploration of how a young man with such self-esteem deals with guilt and his wrongdoings on the battlefield—he self-destructs with immense god-/self-ordained power—, the script is flipped on readers in its final chapter. forcing us to consider his descent into madness as he occupies the role of both his massacred friend and recognises his role in massacring him, it becomes obvious that his power is far from self-ordained or self-acknowledged. instead, it comes from an unstable, illusive mode of insecurity and confused morals.
what i enjoyed is also the appearance of myths and indigenous discrimination even on the battlefield, reminding us that even in war, your skin colour and your ethnic background adds a dangerous complexity to a seemingly binarised inhumane environment. however! the writing and perhaps also its translation was so static, and while it can be argued that repetition of phrases like "God's truth" can be seen as a trauma response, please, i dont think i can take it anymore. let it end......!
what i enjoyed is also the appearance of myths and indigenous discrimination even on the battlefield, reminding us that even in war, your skin colour and your ethnic background adds a dangerous complexity to a seemingly binarised inhumane environment. however! the writing and perhaps also its translation was so static, and while it can be argued that repetition of phrases like "God's truth" can be seen as a trauma response, please, i dont think i can take it anymore. let it end......!