Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Milkman by Anna Burns

5 reviews

duarshe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Do you know that friend that is going to tell you an anecdote that happened to them a while ago, and just seems not to be able to get straight to the point and gets distracted over a million other details before actually telling you what they were going to say from the beginning, and you actually forget what the story was even about? That's middle-sister. Our narrator. So just by saying that, you can kind of imagine how this book is narrated. That is, essentially, the reason why I thought myself uncapable of finishing this, so I'm pretty sure past Sheila must be very proud of me for reading every single page here. It is true that I read this for class, but still it is an achievement. 

The main problem that I find here is that there are many plots, stories and thoughts directed at us by the narrator, that if you chose a fragment from this book and asked me to situate in the plot, there is a small probability that I will actually be able to do it. Many things get repeated over and over, like that damn supercharger. And many others you just cannot know how the narrator even got to that point.

When I updated I was in page 69 I wrote this: "This book is the worst nightmare for people who dislike unconventional narrative style, long paragraphs that go on for pages, little to none dialogue, and long ahh chapters that make up one half of the book. That's me btw. This book is my worst nightmare!!!! 😀" 
And it is true, those aspects do make up for my worst nightmare case scenario (especially this book being the epitome of long chapters), but I was able to manage (barely) anyway. I would say the last two chapters more or less I enjoyed the best, but the rest... God only knows it was not easy...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

chanatova's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.5

Very oddly written book without much of a plot. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it. There were lots of run on sentences and the plot wasn’t necessarily discernible. I’m still not sure what just happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Homophobia

matcha_cat's review against another edition

Boring

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Stalking

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Colonisation

lorenag5's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

lcyarnall1's review against another edition

challenging funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Stalking, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Colonisation