Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

36 reviews

samdalefox's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I tend to stuggle with books written in second person. I haven't come across one yet where I feel it adds to the story in a meaningful way. Anyway, this is a solid coming of age queer story largely set in 1980s Poland, but references many points of 20th Century Polish political and cultural history. I'm sure someone with more knowledge of these events would pick up on much more than I did. The main themes I caught were the traditional questioning and stained acceptance of Ludwik's queerness, and the exploration of pros and cons living underneath socialism vs capitalism (shout out to the common experience of nepotism). I enjoyed the deliberate references to 'Giovanni's room', but that also reminded me of how much superior James Baldwin's work is compared to this novel unfortantely. Mostly I found the book rather meek.

Other community members' review's I largely agree with:

• danielctr's review - "...I simply could not get myself to care very much about the main relationship between Ludwik and Janusz. Also I feel that the main focus of the book is quite unclear...."
• randomheart's review - "...I think my main problem with this novel was that, other than the physical magnetic pull that Ludwik and Janusz had for one another, I didn't really see why they would fall in love with each other on a deeper level. I needed more depth and substance to their relationship. If I had been more invested in their relationship, the politics driving them apart would have hit me in a more substantial manner too. I really wanted to FEEL the angst and conflict between them, but it all just felt a little too anticlimactic to me in the end. Janusz kind of felt too mysterious to me throughout for me to fully connect with as well. I just needed more overall..."

 

Quotes:

"It felt as if the words and the thoughts of the narrator—despite their agony, despite their pain—healed some of my agony and my pain, simply by existing."

"You can't make people love you the way you want them to" 

"Because you were right when you said that people can’t always give us what we want from them; that you can’t ask them to love you the way you want" 

“No matter what happens in the world, however brutal or dystopian a thing, not all is lost if there are people out there risking themselves to document it. Little sparks cause fires, too.”

"We are just queuing for a possibility. Queuing for something. Maybe queuing for nothing." ...
"But it will pass, even the longest queue dissolves eventually"

"To my own surprise, I was unable to accept the shame he wanted me to feel. It was too familiar to be imposed. I had produced it for myself for such a long time that right then I found I had no space left for it anymore." 

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Infidelity, and Sexual content

kal517'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Drug use

artemisd6's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

readsbymoonlight's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Homophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Hate crime, War, Death of parent, and Drug use

waybeyondblue's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Chronic illness, Outing, Infidelity, Biphobia, and Sexual content

risemini's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

ez_heath's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, and Drug use

hxcpanda's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Police brutality and Antisemitism

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

icieri's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Death, Antisemitism, and Sexual content