Reviews tagging 'War'

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

7 reviews

bedtimesandbooks's review

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Trafficking, Abortion, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Rape, Child death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

rondasue27's review against another edition

mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Murder, and Death

Minor: Vomit and War

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Drug use, Murder, Police brutality, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Minor: War, Abandonment, and Abortion

znvisser's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This was fun! Lots going on, many characters including intelligent dogs (love it), and then women and girls everywhere following their dreams and outsmarting men. Early on my brain made a Peaky Blinders comparison and honestly, I held on to it because it helped me with the setting as I don't recall having read a lot of fiction from this time period before. I was however a bit disappointed by Niven's character, who was introduced interestingly (e.g. as a relative outsider to his family, coming back from the war) but his character fell flat fast and these promises from the start didn't really get thoroughly explored. I do understand it's hard to have so many characters and have them all be layered and pronounced, but the author succeeded in this far better for the women (and policemen?) in this story. However, I am not going to complain any more about that, because we all know there are more than enough books out there where women are prone to this fate. I loved how the author used perspective changes and timelines to play with the reader's perspective. In part due to it, the plot wasn't as mysterious as the setting, with many easter eggs and predictable turns and events

, and a slightly unsurprising moral along the lines of "the bad people are not as bad as they seem, and certainly not as bad as the people who are supposed or appear to be doing better"

. But to me there was some playfulness to the predictability and I rather enjoyed it, moreover because I am not particularly looking to be misled in my reading. Anyway - fun! Might pick up some more historical fiction from this time period. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, War, and Addiction

Minor: Abandonment, Suicide, and Kidnapping

ssmylie's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved a few characters and wanted to see them win or get to a bring resolution... but it landed flat at the end for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, War, Sexual assault, Sexism, Addiction, Death, and Alcoholism

zosiablue's review

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

One of those books that felt like I was watching real life casually unfold. Just effortless rolling from scene to scene as if it was happening in real time. I don't know how Kate Atkinson does it. And at first, I read this as just a moment in time without a driving point - a look into 1920s gangster cocktail club glitterati London. But then she pulled a Six Feet Under finale at the end and I realized the Moment in Time WAS the point. These wild things happen and then they're just history. So tart in the moment and then gone. The algia in nostalgia. Dang. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: War and Fire/Fire injury

kim_williams's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Minor: War, Suicide, Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, Rape, Classism, and Drug abuse