Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

9 reviews

angelsinbroadway's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Antisemitism, Abortion, Homophobia, Grief, Eating disorder, Death, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Murder, and Gun violence

dixiecarroll's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this and found the concept to be incredibly intriguing and captivating. I do think that it fell a little flat in certain areas, but I was still eager to keep going and will recommend to everyone! It’s a sweeping family saga plagued with death - look up triggers before hand because it’s filled with them all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Suicide

cyntismiles's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked this book! It was recommended by one of my coworkers, I thought I read it but I hadn't so gave it a go!

I really liked the amount of time we spent with each character and how the author chose the timeline focus for each one. After the first section, I thought we were going to go "back to the beginning" with each one and redo all the events through their eyes. We did not and I was grateful. I found the scope of each character very artfully chosen and well done. I also enjoyed the "mystery" of the book and seeing how it affected each character. 

I really liked how you could tell they were all siblings but at the same time so different. It felt very real to me. There was one specific trait all the characters had that felt very "off" to me but it was resolved in the end which I really enjoyed. I'll add it in the spoiler section if you are curious.  

All the characters consistently acted like they were the only people who had ever experienced family tragedy which was annoying. It took me until Clara's section to identify it esp. in regards to how she responded to her husband. I think it sheds a good light on moving forward with grief vs stagnating in grief. I was really happy to see this somewhat resolved in Varya's section

 

I was super sucked into this book and wanted to find out what would happen to each character. I was most interested in Varya's chapter/perspective so it was kind of a "save the best for last" situation for me. There was a lot of discussion of mental illness in this book and I thought it was done really well. 

I would recommend if you are looking for an accessible novel that asks questions about the placebo effect, human nature, and self-fulfilling prophecy. It's interesting and reflective on the human condition and what we are all inevitably moving towards, death.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Addiction, Xenophobia, Suicide, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, and Racism

gentleprocrastination's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Cancer, Abortion, Gun violence, and Police brutality

ireadinbed's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought halfway through I wouldn't know what to rate this book. 

I had a lot of mixed feelings about things. I didn't sign up for the kind of tragedy I got. And I was angry to be reading it.

I'm glad I continued on. The book thoroughly redeemed itself. 

I don't get every element of this book. It feels very aimed at Jewish folks culturally. But I  felt connected. To every one of the siblings on some level. It's very personal to read and yet very specific to the characters. 

It is a book I would consider rereading and that's high praise from me nowadays. First five star in a long while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Simon, Klara, Daniel und Varya - 
das Leben der vier Geschwister wird in diesem Buch nacheinander dargestellt. Alles beginnt mit dem Tag, an dem sie ihren Todestag erfahren. Eine einschneidende Erfahrung für die Kinder damals, die sie ihr ganzes Leben begleitet. Es werden glaubhaft dynamische Familienbande gezeigt, der Einfluss von Religion und Spiritualität auf das Leben wird behandelt und Sexualität und mentale Gesundheit wird angesprochen. Dir zentrale Diskussion jedoch, die ebenfalls gen Ende sehr elegant direkt in den Text eingewoben wird, ist, Leben vs. Überleben. Wie verhält man sich im Angesicht seines eigenen Ablebens? Geht man lieber auf Nummer sicher und versucht die Zukunft doch noch etwas zu beeinflussen oder nimmt man die Zeit, die man hat und macht das beste draus? Lieber im Jetzt leben oder im Potential der Zukunft? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

maregred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Eating disorder, Drug use, and Antisemitism

ashleykarime's review

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I thought it had an interesting concept but the sex scenes put me off for months. When I finally continued reading, I was kind of bored. I thought the first two characters were more interesting than the last two. Klara was my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, and Suicide

jarnbooks's review

emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I liked this book. Not initially, I hated  the first 100 pages because of the EXPLICIT descriptions of sex but I enjoyed the character. The story of the Gold siblings makes you think about if you want to live or survive and how much time we really have to do it. Each sibling has their own story to tell that each give a different lesson in a different time period that makes them feel real. There were some character decisions that I thought were a little quick but it adds to the story in the moment. There is a character for everyone to have some relation to. Each character is so strong in their passions and it’s genuinely interesting to see how each of the siblings go about their lives and the time they have left. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Death, Child death, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic relationship, War, Racism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Stalking, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Vomit, Infertility, Homophobia, Car accident, Cancer, Bullying, Antisemitism, Abortion, Abandonment, and Gun violence

Most of these are in Simon and Klara’s parts which you can pretty much skip as the important parts are mentioned in the other parts.