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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
A great non-fiction read! Hill analyzes and discusses the importance "blood" has in society. From racism, lineage, family, sports, steroids and Indigenous rights this book makes you think.
Very easy read and easy to follow. Length is manageable and I read through this book so fast because it had very fascinating content.
Very easy read and easy to follow. Length is manageable and I read through this book so fast because it had very fascinating content.
As I spend everyday at work analyzing and looking at blood under the microscope I was intrigued to read this book. The clinical parts were nothing new (for me) but very interesting all the same.
I loved reading the changing attitudes throughout history and reading some of the historical experiments and discoveries of mankind. I have to admit I skipped over about 20 pages devoted to blood politics.....to me politics bores the pants off me (I know they are important and crucial to life today, but there is just no way of making a dry subject interesting....IMO)
Overall a great and interesting read!!
I loved reading the changing attitudes throughout history and reading some of the historical experiments and discoveries of mankind. I have to admit I skipped over about 20 pages devoted to blood politics.....to me politics bores the pants off me (I know they are important and crucial to life today, but there is just no way of making a dry subject interesting....IMO)
Overall a great and interesting read!!
informative
reflective
medium-paced
An extremely smart, heart-felt and genuine autobiography of blood. I thought this was brilliant!
reflective
slow-paced
I have no idea how Hill managed to use such pretty writing to create such an astoundingly mediocre book. I'm not even convinced it's about anything. Sure, it's ostensibly about blood, but what does that really mean?
So many topics are discussed, none of them given time or nuance. Blood is the only through line. I think a book with that structure could absolutely be done well, but this did not do that. I would like to read one of Hill's novels because I do see a lot of good writing and I can tell that he is a novelist, but I have absolutely no qualms giving this book such a low rating.
I found that there wasn't a point in splitting the book into chapters because each new topic discussed was just as closely related to the others within a chapter as it was to the topics discussed in the rest of the book, and the chapters tended to become repetitive. I feel like Hill expected this book to be read chapter by chapter with long breaks in between because a few things were brought up in multiple chapters and defined in almost exactly the same way, as if to someone who had never heard of them before, every time.
I also found that some things were just way too gory for a book that gives absolutely no warning about that type of content. Some descriptions given about various appearances of blood in history are definitely going to haunt my nightmares. Maybe that's on me for not looking for trigger warnings, but I feel like it wasn't unreasonable to go into it not expecting that kind of detail from a book required for a high school English class.
So many topics are discussed, none of them given time or nuance. Blood is the only through line. I think a book with that structure could absolutely be done well, but this did not do that. I would like to read one of Hill's novels because I do see a lot of good writing and I can tell that he is a novelist, but I have absolutely no qualms giving this book such a low rating.
I found that there wasn't a point in splitting the book into chapters because each new topic discussed was just as closely related to the others within a chapter as it was to the topics discussed in the rest of the book, and the chapters tended to become repetitive. I feel like Hill expected this book to be read chapter by chapter with long breaks in between because a few things were brought up in multiple chapters and defined in almost exactly the same way, as if to someone who had never heard of them before, every time.
I also found that some things were just way too gory for a book that gives absolutely no warning about that type of content. Some descriptions given about various appearances of blood in history are definitely going to haunt my nightmares. Maybe that's on me for not looking for trigger warnings, but I feel like it wasn't unreasonable to go into it not expecting that kind of detail from a book required for a high school English class.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Minor: Rape, Slavery, Islamophobia, Murder
As a social scientist this book frustrated me greatly. Although it contained a good deal of interesting and useful knowledge, I was still very disappointed. There was a much greater emphasis on racial categories, which are not useful categories, as they are based upon social construction, not genetics.
Having read a number of Lawrence Hill’s works, it is clear to me that Blood plays a prominent role in all of them. When I saw that he had presented, and published a series of essays dealing with the theme of blood I was intrigued.
Read Full Review: https://mybookbagblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/lawrence-hill-blood-2013/
Read Full Review: https://mybookbagblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/lawrence-hill-blood-2013/
informative
reflective
medium-paced
have me some great ideas, really interesting would love to learn more but on a more technical level instead of based on generalizations and someone elses opinion
Nice, easy read. Some good facts, but not really a comprehensive look at blood.