Reviews tagging 'War'

Milkman by Anna Burns

32 reviews

brenncocoa's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thepurplebookwyrm's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Full video review: https://youtu.be/75W25oszzcE.

What a nice feeling it is to end the reading year on a very good book! 🙂

Outside of considerations of prose (the style of which I really enjoyed here), the effective conveying of dialect (which I was really able to appreciate given my partner is from the North of Ireland), or the satisfying depth of the book's character work... I primarily want to praise Milkman for its excellent (and most definitely, feminism-informed) theming on the actual intersection of axes of oppression – or forms of discrimination – as experienced within the context of a (rather complex) civil war (in this specific case, the Irish Troubles), and the experience of intimidation, fear and trauma on both a personal and a communal level. There was so much nuanced thought put into the substance of this text; a lot of hard, heart-hitting moments as well, that I could personally relate to, or relate to by proxy, in a way, given my now more personal connection to Irish culture and that particular chapter of Irish history. This is definitely one I would happily recommend!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

royze's review against another edition

Go to review page

I wanted to challenge myself with this narrator but life's too short. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

almondfawn's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

becatetwo's review against another edition

Go to review page

There was little plot line and the writing rambled on. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

momisty24's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

clare_dv's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

humanskeleton's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

alishaabrahamsreads's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aiscii's review

Go to review page

dark funny
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's written in a meandering, spoken word, Irish way that I think would've been confusing if I hadn't read it all in one go.

There are a lot of no-name characters, each struggling with the same problems but our narrator makes a point of keeping her head down and not talking about it. 

Middle sister has a great vocabulary but no words to describe sexually predatory behaviour, even to herself.

Everything is awful all of the time (with the, you know, situation) but there's humour in it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings