Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Getaway by Lamar Giles

19 reviews

ashylibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

Wow, this book has a lot packed into it. It is dark, emotional, and horrific.

The Getaway takes place at an amusement park, known as the funnest place on Earth. What lies behind the walls of this Dinsey-like theme park is unknown to many who live within. They are told that if they stay within the walls of Karloff Country, they will remain safe. This, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a lie. 

Following Jay and his group of friends, readers are thrown into a dystopian world that emphasizes the ugly and utterly horrific dividing lines in the classism and racism of Karloff Country. 

I want to start by saying this book was good. It was really well done, and WOW does it pack a punch. I still find myself thinking about it when thinking about books to recommend and share. There is so much in this story that will bring readers in and keep their attention all the way until the end. 

There were many times throughout this story that I stopped and said WTF, and I feel like that was really the intention of the author. To make readers stop and ask what the heck is happening, and why is it being allowed? Hats off to Lamar Giles for making a dystopia horror novel that sadly holds truth of our society today. 

With all that being said, I do wish I got more with certain parts of the story. To keep this spoiler free, I will leave it at each this: after the initial reveal that something was fishy in Karloff Country, any time after that something big and seemingly wilder than last was brought up, that was kind of it. It was just, brought up. This is still a really good book and a well-done story, I just wanted more. 

I will be recommending this title. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Classism, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Blood, and Gore

mals_reads's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gore, Body horror, Classism, Racism, Slavery, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Suicide, Child death, Cannibalism, Dementia, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, and Kidnapping

marik0n's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"The getaway" by Lamar Giles it a young-adult, mystery book that feels like an episode straight out of black mirror. 

The main characters are four teenagers -Chelle, Jay, Connie and Zeke- and their families that live and work in an extremely high-tech, world famous resort that includes various amusement/ theme parks and it meant for the scandalous rich elite. Jay is living his best life, until residents start disappearing and rich families gathering in the city, while no one talks about it. The group decides to look more into what is going on and the truth is... socking. 

It was surely unsettling but it wasn't a thriller. The synopsis gave me completely different vibes. However, it was a great, fast-paced book.

It explores themes such as climate change, racial and social injustice, classism and capitalism. Although it is a dystopian setting it really does not feel so far fetched. Reading this book was hands down unsettling and caused me lots of anxiety about the world we are living in. 

Before reading it, I would recommend checking out the trigger warnings. Some that come to my mind right off the bat are: suicide, murder, torture, cannibalism, racism, violence, death, hate crimes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, and Violence

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? No

4.0

This was a wild ride! The action started at the beginning and didn't stop. There were moments throughout this where I thought "is this actually happening?" It's part mystery, part thriller, part horror, and part dystopia. There are so many teens that I think are going to absolutely eat this up, because it's all of their favorite genres combined into one book.

Just when you think you have everything figured out in this book, Giles introduces a new twist that makes you rethink everything you just read. So far, I think this is my favorite thing I've read by him. It's engaging, fast-paced, and the audiobook is just fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual assault and Gun violence

bitesizedbeet's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Murder, Racism, Gun violence, Classism, Hate crime, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Blood, Excrement, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

sfbookgirl's review

challenging dark reflective 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

3.0

This is honestly one of the scariest book covers I have ever seen so therefore I had to read it. It starts off really spooky with a “utopian” society attached to a theme park (think Disneyland) called Karloff County. While I enjoyed the first half, the second half of the novel gets confusing with so many plot points and characters that went by more than one alias. The main character, Jay, is living his best life working as a janitorial staff on the weekends while receiving free housing for his family and excellent high school education during the week. 

 

It gets weird when Jay and his close group of friends start noticing strange changes around the park like disappearing workers. Then the super-rich starts arriving in hoards with no indication of leaving…The Getaway is a thrilling (at times) dystopian novel that doesn’t bring much new to the table but does offer excellent commentary on racism and classism. And it will definitely make you reconsider ever going to a theme park again. 

 

Content warnings: racism, violence, murder, animal death, hate crime, cannibalism, gun violence 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Animal death, Hate crime, and Cannibalism

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Blood, Death, Grief, Torture, and Murder

archaicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Racism

sallysimply's review against another edition

4.5

Okay, well, first of all! This book is much darker than I was expecting.

It also legit feels horrifying at points, especially in the last 10-20%. When somebody used the term “corporatized end times” and I legit felt panic in my body for a while there. It is just such a thing that feels too possible right now. (Like, as a concept / at its core, obviously not something exactly like how this played out.) I think up to that point, I was probably hovering around 3.5? But from then on, I was so sucked into the tension of it all. That type of visceral response is not common for me, and it bumped up the rating for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Minor: Gun violence