Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

3 reviews

megelizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

This is beautifully written, poignant, and utterly heart-shattering. I adored our main character, Ludwik, and absolutely ached for him throughout, and the relationships he has with some of the other characters completely broke me. This has so much to say about love, politics, poverty, family, and what the right way is to live or be, and it's definitely one that will stay with me. That being said, I think it would have had even more of an impact - and potentially been a 5* read - had it been a bit longer. It grapples with two very key central themes (the tragic love story and the brutal homophobia that goes along with this, and then the social commentary around Soviet socialism), and at times it felt to me a bit rushed and as if it would have really benefitted from being that bit longer and developing both strands more fully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, War, Rape, and Drug use

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

I appreciated the setting because it focused on a time and place (Poland in the 1980s) that I am almost completely unfamiliar with and it was very interesting to be immersed in it, even if briefly.
I quite liked the narrator's voice and I think that the author was very good at handling Ludwik's emotional journey, the final chapters especially hit me right in the feels, harder than I thought they would.

However, there were some plot points that I found a little bit weird

for example, the drugged soup and the hallucinated stroll in the woods, okay I guess?!

.
Also, I think that at times the language was a tad overwritten and going a bit too heavy on metaphors and similes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Death of parent, Drug use, Outing, Classism, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Blood, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Violence

malewife's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault