Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Haven

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Haven by Emma Donoghue

17 reviews

teresareads's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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bookinthebath's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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wherethewildreadsare's review against another edition

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DNF’d way later than I should have.

This book is its own form of torture. I blame myself for thinking this was going to go any other way than bad - it’s on me really. It’s about 3 celibate Christian monks who go on a mission because this one guy with a Godly complex has decided that they need to get on a boat and go to a random island because of a vision. No plan, arguably contributes no physical effort towards getting there. Other than all the times they have to stop and do some prayer - completely inefficient and there’s no way Christopher Columbus would’ve made it to the Caribbean if they had stopped as many times as they did. Nothing like a little Christian guilt to demand obedience.

At the end of it all, this book is not for me. I was constantly rolling my eyes over Artt’s cult like behavior.

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kaitsteak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

CW: religious trauma, animal death and cruelty to LGBTQIA character

Set on Skellig Michael, the book follows three monks in the 7th century as they withdraw from society to form a life of prayer on the skellig. Cormac and Trian are monks who are voluntold to leave with Artt, a cult-leader-wannabe to live on a remote island with little-to-no resources. Predictably, this causes hardship.

Cormac and Trian are thoughtful, well-constructed characters and I enjoyed the parts of the novel where we watch their attempts to make the island their home. I got a good sense of these characters and their motivations. The parts of the novel that center these characters really shine.

Artt is decidedly less of a well-rounded character. He seemed to be almost an archetype of religious mania, and I wish that we as readers got a better sense of his internal motivation.

Another issue I took with the book was the INTENSE amount of animal slaughter in the book. I understand it’s a survival story, but the killing seemed gratuitous.

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redwrapped's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Haven is a rich, evocative meditation on the frailty and strength of mankind and the psychological effects of faith and isolation, bound by duty to God and each other, bolstered by crystalline, reflective descriptions, and a focus on the world and history of the setting. Always thoughtful and often breathtaking, Haven is a immense but fraught study on the intersection between history, nature, religion, and psychology.

One monk, Artt, has a dream that he takes to believe is a command from God to break away from the monastery and escape from sin and rote temptations and leave for a new world where he and two others will not be distracted from their holy work: copying a Bible by hand and building an altar and a church, surrounded only by nature and isolation.

Soon, Artt is sworn loyalty to by his two followers and they listen to his directives, even as he becomes more fervent in his desire for an ideal world and overzealous in religiosity, meting out punishment and sacrificing their safety for demonstrations of worship and penitence to God. As winter nears closer and they run out of wood to burn and food to eat, and Artt becomes more deluded and needy for absolution, will the three of them be able to survive the island and their own self-doubt?

Trian and Cormac are some of the most well-rounded, well-intentioned, and honest characters I've seen for some time. Their trust and eventual bond between each other is heartrending. The change in Artt is imperceptible; maybe because his drive and ambition at the cost of others was always there under his good works.

As the story goes on, layer after layer of reverberations and aftereffects are uncovered, and the centuries between when the story takes place and the contemporary time we live in dissolves into a translucent allegory and warning to us all.

Is Artt a man bent on destruction in his selfish quest for sainthood, or a man willing to do nearly anything to get closer to God? Is Haven an allegory on religious fanaticism to the point of endangering people, or the portrait of men seeking God regardless of personal risk? Does mankind always destroy nature in a personal quest, chasing fulfillment, or does nature have to dwindle and be destroyed before men can look around and realize their fulfillment? Are men in isolation only capable of destruction or are they reduced to destruction due to their own limitations? What drives a man to make himself be worthy of God, anyway?

Haven is an engrossing and mesmerizing look into humanity's greatest faults and strengths, and shows a world on the verge of change, just as the world is right now.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Thanks to Netgalley and Picador for a copy of this book.

In 7th century Ireland, devout priest and scholar, Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. He takes with him tow monks, young Trian and old Cormac. They row down the Sionnan (Shannon) in search of a remote island to found a new monastery; they discover an island that we now know as Skellig Michael.

Growing up in the South-west of Ireland myself, the incredible story of the monks and the harsh life they lived on Skellig Michael was something I grew up learning about, so I was very excited to read this.

If you're going into this book with zero prior knowledge of the history of Skellig Michael, Ireland, its mythology and the life of early Christian monks, know that Donoghue will not hold your hand, and researching along the way, may be beneficial to you.

This book is incredibly well researched (I expected nothing less from Donoghue). I really enjoyed the references to Irish mythology. A slow paced story about 3 monks living in isolation could easily be boring, but with Donoghue's writing I found it very compelling and intriguing.

The ending was incredible.

This is a book that will stick with me.

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alylentz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I've read a handful of Emma Donoghue's books and am always surprised and intrigued by what she'll write next. This one was difficult to read not because it was boring or uninteresting to me, but because it is a sad and brutal story that doesn't pull any punches. Just when you think things can't get worse for the characters, they do, every time. However, I think the character work here is truly expert, as Donoghue's books always are. My investment in them kept me turning the pages, and the familial relationship that forms between Cormac and Trian and leads us to the climax is something that will definitely stick with me. I would recommend this book to readers who like survival stories, books with a slow build, and titles that contemplate religion and its limits.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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