Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

12 reviews

ehagedorn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Sexual content, Homophobia, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and War

kananineko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this weird little book. I know it won’t work for everyone, but somehow it worked for me. I love absurd concepts like this and things that examine life and death and afterlife and the in-between and history, so of course I loved it. If you have similar interests, you may feel the same way. But you also might not, because it’s a very weird book. I love the play-like format and the parts that put together historical documents to recount a moment. I’m so glad I read this book and I’m very glad that i I own it!I loved this weird little book. I know it won’t work for everyone, but somehow it worked for me. I love absurd concepts like this and things that examine life and death and afterlife and the in-between and history, so of course I loved it. If you have similar interests, you may feel the same way. But you also might not, because it’s a very weird book. I love the play-like format and the parts that put together historical documents to recount a moment. I’m so glad I read this book and I’m very glad that I own it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Cursing, Excrement, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Homophobia

benschwind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Racism, Racial slurs, War, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Infidelity, Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

christynhoover's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

For starters, know what the word "BARDO" means before you begin. It clues you in to WHERE the plot unfolds: a cemetery, but one that is full of deceased characters who are resisting completing their move to the hereafter. 

The format of this book is one,-of-a-kind. Start reading it expecting the UNEXPECTED --and perhaps knowing you may want to start the book over after a few (brief) chapters now that you've got the gist of the style/format. 

That said, I also found it helpful to follow along in a print copy while simultaneously listening to the exquisitely cast audiobook version. What a treat to hear David Sedaris, Susan Sarandon, Nick Offerman, and the author himself (among dozens) read parts!

IF you persevere, the book repays you tremendously, IMO. It touches on  regrets, failings, etc that humans may have at their death and making peace with them in some way. I found it to be tremendously humane and compassionate. 

It also touches on war --specifically EARLY in the US Civil War-- and Lincoln's responsibility for 3,000 lost lives up to that point. So great a loss in comparison to the death of his son Willie.  

And it touches on Lincoln's decision to wallow in depression vs emerge reinvigorated --and to see the war through to it's conclusion.

I found Saunders description (imagined) of Lincoln holding his dead son in his arms to be deeply moving.

Reading interviews of George Saunders speaking about how he came to write the book to be informative and highly worthwhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Suicide, Child death, Cursing, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

laurajones's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Sexual content, Death, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Self harm, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault and Classism

Minor: Excrement

tree_branch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Suicide, Sexual content, and Death

shaney_swift's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual content

dylan2219's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

So emotionally overwhelming and completely gripping once you get a grip on that style. There is truly no book like this, it is completely original. There is so much in here that blew my mind. The polyphony of all those voices, the multivocal nature of history itself, creates almost a kind of Cubist narrative where we are given multiple perspectives of the same event all at once, memories blurring together and giving form to one another. It aims to capture little more than the entire collective memory of America and all its traumatic wounds on a kind of spiritual battleground. Some of the descriptions and images are brilliant. I am so deeply moved by this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual content

nstew16's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide