Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet

23 reviews

chaoticweevil's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Classism, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

literarylion's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Pros:

• All-around well-crafted
• Interesting take on climate disaster
• Strong character development and establishment of POV 

Cons:

• A bit derivative of other authors and stories (general dystopia)
• I had trouble orienting myself in the setting for the first quarter or so
• Felt rushed towards the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Pregnancy

kallan's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Alcoholism

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

deedireads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

A Children’s Bible was a strange read, but no doubt masterful. Short, unsettling, and apocalyptic, I can see why it was a National Book Award contender.

For you if: You like literary and/or apocalyptic novels.

FULL REVIEW:

I picked up A Children’s Bible because it was longlisted for the National Book Award. While I wouldn’t quite call it a fun read, I can absolutely appreciate its mastery and resonance, and I’m glad I read it.

The story is about a group of children whose wealthy families have gathered in a big country house for the summer. The kids are unsettlingly mature (which is more of a story device than realistic, but is actually really interesting in the way it positions their partying parents as less irresponsible — particularly given the book’s focus on climate change and impending disaster). Then a storm blows through, and what’s essentially the end of the world begins.

It’s a super-short novel at only about 200 pages, and it’s extremely unsettling, but written in a detached, x-ray like style that’s also really effective. All in all, a fascinating read from a literary perspective, and I can definitely see why some people thought it might win the Pulitzer.

Pick this one up if you like weird, literary books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Animal death

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Violence, and Confinement

imds's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Body horror, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Torture, Drug use, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Abandonment, and Pregnancy

laurendubs's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Torture

knkoch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book was wild! It was easy to read quickly. It reminded me a lot of Leave the World Behind in its apocalyptic plot. 

Most of the characters weren’t highly detailed, besides the central 3-4, though that might be intentional. This is a book set within several large, roving groups of both adults and teenagers, and individuals are often being lost and found. The thematic links to the parables of the Bible were at times tricky for me, as I’m not the most well versed, but I was pleasantly surprised at where the plot took me. It was quite hard to predict most moments. 

The author did well to write from a young person’s perspective, even though it was hard to tell the age of the narrator. I get a sense that such de-individuation (in age and personality) was intentional, both to link the characters to their archetypal origins and force the reader to think in terms of groups, rather than individuals. They seem to represent humanity as a whole?

Overall, interesting, funny, and thought-provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and Torture

This is not a calming read. It’s a somewhat dystopian projection of climate change apocalypse.

perditorian's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Torture

Minor: Eating disorder

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the sarcasm and humor, but ultimately the biblical parallels were a little too heavy-handed for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

The “R” word is used to describe a character with a presumed intellectual disability in a very not-ok way

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective medium-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

3.25

This was a fine story, but a lot of the allegories went right over my head. I think being more familiar with the Bible would make this a more interesting read. I did like that science wasn't disparaged for religion and the MC reminded me a lot of myself growing up. I don't have a lot of thoughts on this one, it was a good story but nothing really sticks out to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Violence

Child birth, death from child birth