Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Promise by Damon Galgut

31 reviews

m4rtt4's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

The writing was excellent; very compelling and beautiful, though it also felt pretentious at times and kept the characters at a distance. Going into the book I expected to like it a lot more than I actually ended up doing, as the premise sounded very interesting but the book ended up being very little about 'the promise' that even its name suggests. Social justice and diverse perspectives were what I expected, but instead I got rather boring relationships and white guilt and no actual action for anything. I really wanted to immerse myself in the story, and even though the sentences were beautiful, they did not manage to evoke anything in me and it was hard to concentrate on something that felt like it was purposefully keeping me away. The writing surely deserves the Booker price, but the story itself fell quite flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

mel_s_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

heather077's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Classism and Eating disorder

hgallagher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide, Racism, Murder, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Alcoholism

Minor: Chronic illness

thebowandthebook's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

3.5

Very interesting read, it hopped around a good bit. Writing style was different then my normal reads but enjoyed it. Bit crude,unfiltered examination of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Death of parent, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Racism, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, and Infertility

holly_daze_'s review

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Death

Minor: Cancer

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcoholism

sal17's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer and Suicide

Minor: Murder

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

Little point in describing Galgut as a fine and (nearly) unique stylist. <i>The Promise</> fulfills its titular expectation: behind these familial characters is a connection/disturbance always beneath--moral and spiritual, political and cultural--which informs the narrow narcissisms and lethargies they practice. On occasion it bubbles to the surface, threatening to overturn it all. Galgut, too, structures his book to support these perturbations: episodes around death, transient disaffections with religious answers, ironic narrative insinuations--all to form a teleological ennui for its main characters (I dare call none precisely a protagonist). 

This is my first read of his, and now I must turn to others, though I worry that Galgut's white narrative perspective may limit his ability to broaden his political frame. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Death of parent

candournat's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Liked it but didn’t love it.

It’s beautifully written and full of metaphor but there was just something missing for me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, War, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicide, and Alcoholism