Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

38 reviews

18soft_green's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

4/5

This is a good book, unfortunately.

I say it this way because a lot of the time it felt like the author was being pretentious in her flowery style and drama. The POV switches were painful and Isaac is my least favorite type of character and Bellatine is so fucking annoying! And her statue love interest is worse! Baba Yaga herself was very interesting but her great, great, great, great grandkids are the worst! In fact, it's as if Nethercotte took my least favorite types of characters, added some quirks, and dumped them into a story.

But the story is good! The grief is real, the magic is weird, the contradictions are mysterious, the walking house is fantastic! The angst, my friends! It's such good angst! Not the relationship angst, that shit was boring as hell and annoying, but the life angst, the way the characters felt about themselves, that was the true sauce.

It also felt so fucking weird that Nethercotte constantly acknowledged the atrocities of the land. Maybe that's just my privilege talking but it felt so out of place and character for the Yaga siblings. Like, this book isn't addressing those topics so why is it bringing them up. I care very much about those issues but it felt like the story was only bringing them up out of obligation and personal responsibility rather than because it was important to the story. It was awkward for me.

4/5 I would not recommend unless the situation truly called on THIS particular book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and War

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Self harm

deetabz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Antisemitism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Vomit

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was maybe more a 2.75 rounded up to 3 for me. While I enjoyed the theme of story as a witness to tragedy and the author does have some command of language, I found myself drifting periodically throughout the novel. It felt too long and that the author was trying too hard to be pithy at points. And while I enjoyed the difference in tone based on the narrative being shared, sometimes it felt like the author forgot which story she was writing and quickly adjusted in what felt like an abrupt shift. I could see this writer being an excellent poet, but novelist? She sort of falls short.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Antisemitism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

danaslitlist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Beautiful prose and important messages throughout. I was pleasantly surprised by this gem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Death

zghutcheson01's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

The ending was a little rushed and cheesy but overall the book was wonderful. It has the winding, broken aspect of a tale told by your grandparents who are remembering new parts as the telling goes on and it's absolutely beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Antisemitism, Death, and Hate crime

Moderate: Gore, Animal death, Genocide, Racism, Body horror, Xenophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Violence

elizafiedler's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

I love a good Baba Yaga story! This one is a really cool weaving together of magic and the mundane and the power of the arts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Violence, Racism, and Genocide

Moderate: Death, Murder, Hate crime, and Toxic relationship

valerie's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Antisemitism

Moderate: Child death and Violence

Minor: Genocide

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Blood, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Body horror, and Child death

a_kt's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Major American Gods vibes but with a great Eastern European/Jewish folklore slant, emotional and hard to get through at times, it's a really great story with incredible prose. I will definitely look out for more from GennaRose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Violence, Hate crime, and Child death

mossgoblins's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was hands-down the best story I’ve read in years. I might be a bit biased since my family history is not dissimilar to that of the Yaga’s, yet I believe anyone can appreciate the masterwork of GennaRose Nethercott in Thistlefoot. The plot is airtight, the characters complex and endearing, and the setting simply sparkling with life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Murder, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, War, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Blood, Self harm, Violence, Hate crime, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Deportation