Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

118 reviews

kaisathelibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Colonisation

kkgarrett's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Rape, and Pedophilia

heron_m's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Incest, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Colonisation

arifairy's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Xenophobia

juliacall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.75

My first thought, the back of this book is grossly misleading. However, it is Hanga Yanaghara so I really should have known it wouldn’t just be a story about the discovery of a tribe, untouched by modern civilization, who carries the key to immortality. That doesn’t sound nearly traumatic enough! 

Her writing is so immersive and colorful that learning about Micronesia and this iuvuans felt more like watching a documentary than reading a history book (I know it was a memoir but you get what I mean.) However, when her storylines head in a darker direction, it’s still just as immersive and just as colorful. Her writing has a way of filling you up, then leaving you empty at its conclusion. 

I’ll continue reading her books because I really enjoy her writing. But I’m really looking forward to reading something by Yanaghara that has a lighter tone. At this point I can only read her novels every few years, the heaviness is hard to shake off! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, and Pedophilia

ahakes1's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Rape

sammysloth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

knitmaths78's review against another edition

The writing in the book was tiny, normal print would have made the 369 pages double the length ! Unfortunately the book is very slow paced and dry and not a lot happens when you feel that you’ve read a lot and find you haven’t travelled very far along in the book.  I’d been forcing myself to carry on reading as it’s part of my Naturalitsy 2023 challenge but just can’t read any more. Put simply it’s boring!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Rape

bespokecompost's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Hard to know what to say about this, well-written, compelling, and awful in equal parts, I haven’t felt drawn in by a book like this in a while but it was mostly just to see how much more Dr. A Norton Perina could tell on himself before the end. Esme didn’t deserve any of this. I don’t think I would recommend this to anyone going in completely blind like I did, but it was very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny

emmap_1109's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Rape, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Racism, Colonisation, and Slavery