Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rory_john14's review
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Mass/school shootings
alishaabrahamsreads's review
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent
lorenag5's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
notthatcosta's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The bottom line is that I didn't really like a single character in the book, and even the protagonist made some infuriating decisions at points and overall my feeling was 'this place is not for you, you are above these people and you need to get the hell out of there' - which although a simplification, seemed preferable to sticking around in such a place. Also, her mum was a total arsehole and I don't know if I was supposed to like her, but I certainly didn't.
Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I feel like most of the aspects I took issue with were at least strong intentional stylistic choices made by the author, and I can always respect a big swing.
Oh and ALSO, the random 11th hour gay subplot was egregious.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
just_jess02's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
On the other hand, Anna did a great job of making the reader understand the existence of middle sister. I felt the anxiety, the fear, the connections, the paranoid state of the community, etc. Maybe she just did too good of a job with the feelings of time passing, the long/drawn out thoughts of every moment, the mundane nature of every day life. When I got to the end I felt like a deserved a big payoff for making it through… but it sort of just fizzled out in a “life goes on” idea.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lennie_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault
lauraspeechly's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Murder
annick's review against another edition
4.25
The collective and generational traumas of sectarian violence has so many layers of pain and numbness and miscommunication in this book. The narrator’s experience of being stalked by an unwanted older man, becomes hard to bear when she reveals she is misunderstood and cannot trust any others to help her escape this situation with Milkman.
I enjoyed the writing style. No names but descriptions. But who was Jason ? And Neil? They were mentioned near the end.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Gaslighting
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Milkman is a story of our unnamed protagonist Third Sister as she quite literally buries her head in her favourites books and tries to get by in the manic world of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Burns uses a long flowing stream of conscious style format, which really works at times to get into the turmoil and chaos of the unusual events. However, in other seemingly irrelevant drawn out sections it had be pulling my hair out and losing concentration quite easily.
The book has a very closed in claustrophobic nature to it which in hindsight was a fantastic portrayal of what everyone must have been feeling in those communities at the time, however it does make the book quite arduous to read.
This is a book that demands your attention for every single word and insists you fully invest into it's quite unusual format. If you can immerse yourself fully then chances are you will love it.
For me, I found the first 40% dragged on and to be honest if I wasn't doing the buddy read hosted by @lostinlaurensbooks I probably would have given up. That said I did begin to enjoy it for the remaining 60% and am very glad I stuck with it.
A challenging immersive read which continues to split opinions however there's no doubt it is a great piece of literary fiction.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War
ollie_again's review
- 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
4.0
So that was that. That was me told. And no longer was I a vile old spinster refusing to get married, but now most definitely an unconnected, unbonded loose woman, but her words, insulting and disdaining, came not from her daughter's ill-working of creative raw material, but from her own ill-working of creative raw material; relaying to me too, the latest rumour of me and the milkman whilst managing to perpetuate it on at the same time. As with the milkman -as with all of them - here again was someone who knew the answers so wasn't asking questions, wasn't interested either, in how I might respond.
This was exhausting to read, to finish but despite the stream of consciousness that is not my cup of tea usually, I was sucked in. Infuriated. Angry. Confused. But also more and more paranoid. The tale of gossip, lies and, constant gaslighting from every corner; the disinterest and unlogical acts of the main character. Her trying to get out of the web of spun yarn, fake yarn, yarn that pulled her deeper and deeper into all of the wrongdoings she has supposedly done and does them still. At some point, you doubt everyone and try to see if they are also telling untruths; if they are the danger on the page. Milkman gets into your head and won't leave until the very last page. And maybe he'll stay with you even longer.
Exhausting to get through, but brilliant at the same time.
Graphic: Gun violence, Vomit, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide