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mattyvreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I found huge pockets of this book to be unfathomably boring, and then suddenly hugely interesting. I think a lot of the writing is sort of inaccessible and a little dense. Then it is captivating and very moving.
I thought the ending would deliver something more powerful, but
Idk. Kind of boring overall.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Dementia, Colonisation, War, Body horror, Misogyny, Suicide, Death, and Medical content
angela_iseli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, and Medical content
spooderman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, War, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Cancer, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Ableism, Islamophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Transphobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Hate crime, Addiction, Antisemitism, Vomit, Dysphoria, Pedophilia, Incest, Racial slurs, and Sexism
kmhst25's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Blood and Death
Minor: Dementia and Toxic friendship
catandherbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Moderate: Death
savvylit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
My favorite thing about the book, though, is how evocative it is of the anonymity of international travel. There were so many segments of this book that took me back to my own travels and the very specific feeling that you belong nowhere and everywhere at once. Transit stations and airports truly have a liminal quality that I've never seen captured as well as Tokarczuk has in Flights.
My least favorite thing about the book was the pages on pages describing plastination. I am just not at all interested in the methods used during / the art form of preserving anatomical specimens. There was a point in my reading where I thought I would go insane if I read one more description detailing the composition of a preserved human body part.
Ultimately, I picked this book to read after Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead became one of my favorite books of 2021. In Flights, Tokarczuk's prose is still as exceptional as I found it to be in DYPOBD. However, the two books could not be more different! Which is perfectly alright, just not what I'd initially hoped for. I think I just really wanted to read another Toakrczuk book that followed a more traditional narrative structure. Alas.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
hannah_sakura's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Miscarriage