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astridrv's review against another edition
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Excrement
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse
morenowagain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts
mel_j's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child death, Child abuse, and Animal death
Minor: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt
barelyalex's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, and Antisemitism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, and Self harm
ursa_arlo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The book is also supremely uncomfortable; the things Jas does make sense through her reasoning and her innocent view of things which helps her cope with the death of her brother and the subsequent abuse she suffers. All in all, this is a beautiful book, not for the faint of heart, about the different ways in which grief can spiral and corrupt.
Negatives. This book is as Dutch as can be in its subject matter. The events described are unapologetically horrible and I do not find that appealing. While I could, to an extent, put myself in the shoes of this traumatized, reformist, farmer's family in the early 2000's, I greatly disliked the taboo subjects covered, the animal cruelty, the sexual and physical abuse, etc. You really need to have the stomach for it.
Quote. "'Weet je," zeg ik terwijl ik mijn neus in haar haren duw die naar Zwitsal ruiken. "Ik wil wel groter worden maar niet dat mijn armen mee groeien. Nu pas jij er precise in.' Hannah is even stil en zegt dan: 'Als ze te groot worden, sla ik ze net als mijn wintersjaal gewoon twee keer om mij heen."
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Child death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, Death, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism
mruds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Antisemitism, Incest, Gore, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Sexual violence
dizzzybrook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Antisemitism, Incest, Self harm, Vomit, Body horror, Sexual content, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Blood, and Pedophilia
heron_m's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Animal death, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Antisemitism and Bullying
james1star's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Plot: not much to say here, it’s a character driven novel where little really happens. We’re following ten-year-old Jas via first person as she lives on a dairy farm in rural Netherlands with her family. Coming up to Christmas, Jas is worried her rabbit will be killed so wishes God take another… her oldest brother for example. This does occur after he drowns and what ensues is an exploration of grief on the family and her interactions with her younger sister Hanna and older brother Obbe.
Rijneveld does do a decent job at showing how grief takes over the lives of Jas’s parents with the mum becoming reserved, stops eating and increasingly suicidal. The dad turns very cold with both neglecting their remaining children to fend for themselves. This dark portrayal and decent into mental deterioration is very apparent and depicted relatively well. The writing is decent enough as well but as the book develops any positives became far outweighed by the negatives.
My main issue with this book is there’s just far too much grossness involved which become boring over time and just horrible to read. Rehashing depictions of bodily functions and products (snot, faeces, urine, bile, vomit, etc) are not only disgusting but I don’t understand why there’s so much of it. Reading about animal abuse and death are things I hate at the best of time but when there’s no justice served… nope!! I despise this so much, it’s a thing that attaches to me strongly and I can’t shift the feeling of disgust and anger. What’s worse is there are no consequences for these actions and it’s a terrible portrayal of such situations. A lot of the book also doesn’t make entire sense to me, specifically the interactions between Obbe and his sisters. He is a repulsive character in my opinion and the way he thinks and acts are really unfathomable that adds to my dislike of the book. In a similar vein, all the siblings don’t act in a way appropriate, it’s like Rijneveld put in all these horrific things over and over to impact the reader… but it just disgusts me. The family are part of a community with the children going to school so they’re not totally isolated which makes their actions more questionable. There’s a lot of hypocrisy prevalent as well, a note I picked up on was the anger the family feels to those culling the cows later in the book where they’re literally dairy farmers who abuse, exploit and eventually murders cows in the process… didn’t sit right with me there.
I might have more to say but don’t care to waste any more time on this book that I hated so yh. Read it if you want but I wouldn’t. Any messages and what Rijneveld wanted to achieve, for me they failed and I will not be reading their new book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Incest, Violence, Body horror, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Child death, Vomit, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Antisemitism
biggaywave's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Incest, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Body horror, Mental illness, Suicide, Child death, and Death