Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

19 reviews

taylers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A dark, post WW2 horror/thriller that gives you insight into the minds of seemingly normal people who, in secret, do depraved and horrific things. All the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Ableism, Sexual assault, Grief, Torture, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Excrement

marisabenn's review

dark tense medium-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

5.0

I highly suggest this book to anyone who likes Cormac McCarthy. More quotation marks, less adjectives. I flew through this book and was constantly wondering what was coming next. It follows several people, but blends them so well and ties their stories together with a grisly red bow. They are (mostly all) flawed, awful, horrible people and yet I found myself wanting to know what despicable thing they would do next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Incest and Homophobia

acintiabarreto's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Self harm, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Rape

miishae's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

   | It's a really dark book with a lot of triggering topics, but it's such a good read with tons of morally grey characters who face many challenges. It's really interesting to see how this small world eventually comes together and everyone make decisions that aren't always for the best. 

Massive trigger warning for dark topics, violence, etc. Definitely would not recommend unless you like this kind of stuff. Personally, I couldn't put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, and Suicide

zacharie's review

dark tense medium-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

4.0

This book is hyper-violent with characters so messed up it feels wrong to say that I liked reading it. It very much triggered that part of your brain that can’t look away from a tragedy, because no matter how uncomfortable the book made me, I kept coming back to it and wanting to know what fucked up thing would happen next. 

As a person who is usually drawn to loveable and relatable characters, it was interesting to find myself invested in a cast of characters I absolutely despise. Normally a story with unlikeable characters like this would make me want to stop reading and pick up something else, but for this book it was the complete opposite. This amplified the experience in a way, because after having followed this group of repulsive characters, the ending felt rewarding in a way I haven’t really experienced before in a mix of relief and satisfaction. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be able recommend this book to anyone with the heaping amount of content warnings, but I’m glad I got myself through this unsettling experience. I’ll probably be coming back to it during future spooky seasons too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia

sphealrical's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

anniehall's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

osehernand's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 El hilo conductor de esta historia es una promesa incumplida, esa promesa es el origen de todas las tragedias que ocurren a lo largo de la historia. Me parece curioso cómo desde el inicio el narrador nos deja en claro lo que está por venir en los siguientes capítulos: "Emma thought about the promise she’d been unable to keep. She’d been dreading a violent accident, or some horrible disease, but this was good news." (p. 34).

Ahora, hay un par de cosas que me resultaron incómodas.

1. La mirada racista. Me inclino a pensar que se debe a la época en la que se desarrolla la obra, aún así es difícil digerir esas ideas.
2. Misoginia y machismo. Hay dos tipos de mujeres en esta historia: las madres de familia y las putas. Las madres de familia son respetables y, en rara ocasión, se hace algún comentario despectivo o malicioso hacia ellas. En cambio, las otras mujeres, las putas, las zorras, las prostitutas, las que engañan a sus maridos (tal como la mujer del abogado Dunlap) no reciben más que descripciones obscenas y desagradables, son vistas como meros objetos para satisfacer y servir al género masculino y no puedo, simplemente, pasarlo por alto.
3. Las escenas de violación y pedofilia. En especial, una escena donde Carl vende a su esposa, Sandy, con unos hombres para filmar una película pornográfica. También las partes donde se describe cómo piensa el reverendo Preston Teagardin y cómo se aprovecha de la inocencia de jovencitas para conseguir quitarles la virginidad y acostarse con ellas hasta aburrirse o encontrar a otra chica “más apetecible”.

Los personajes están constituidos y desarrollados para que causen desagrado, asco e incomodidad, en especial los masculinos; el único que puede salvarse es Arvin Russell. La manera en que el autor consigue hilar las historias de todos los personajes, de tal manera que sus vidas terminan entrecruzándose, de una forma u otra, está muy bien llevado. No se siente forzado, ni sobra ningún elemento. Todo está conectado y bien ejecutado. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

cheechisapie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Read this book on a whim after hearing about the Netflix movie and was looking for something spooky to read for the month of October. This book took me by surprise. It was dark, gruesome, yet surprisingly human. I found it challenging getting through some scenes and there were times I had to put the book down to take a break because reading this book genuinely horrified me. Then again, I don't really go around looking for something gory to read. However, if that's your cup of tea then this book will definitely be for you. Despite my weakheartedness, I could not put this book down. I was captivated by Pollock's strong and beautifully written prose. It also helped that the chapters were short and fast-paced so even if I wanted to stop at times, I would tell myself just one more chapter and found myself zooming through this book. He is also able to humanize these vile characters and gets you invested in each of their plots. I think it is a true skill to be able to let his readers feel for these characters even after all their horrific and monstrous deeds. If you are able to get through this deeply disturbing book, you will not be disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Bullying and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Racism