Reviews tagging 'Deportation'

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

4 reviews

ronanmcd's review

challenging dark sad 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

5.0

Hans Fallada's Alone in Dublin
It's almost too much to read. It's affecting my sleep. It's affecting how I'm looking at my surroundings. 
I never take stock of prizes, but it's easy to see how this has been winning awards. You are in it. It's inescapable.
It's set in local places, Mount Temple, Joey's school, the promenade in Clontarf. And nothing happens for stretches, but real fear simmers. That's what makes it so powerful. It's believable. It captures so well the boiling frog metaphor. Changes come in and are accepted, however begrudgingly, until it's too late and everything has changed. It's not hard to see this happening around us, particularly as the Overton window has been shunted aside.
There are moments of clarity throughout, that leap from the text. Simon, Eilish's deteriorating father, points out none of this is new. There has always been a wing that will deny truth and facts, until they are irrelevant and unverifiable. Until you believe their lies, but even then truth comes back, as facts cannot be overruled.
And later Eilish's son, Mark, says fear attracts exactly what it is most afraid of.

But then...

The book changes when war comes. It becomes a story of a claustrophobic war in a small country. I read this as Israel bombarded Gaza, going far beyond a response to rocket attacks. And with politicians and members of the press cashing for Gaza's obliteration.  ll the while politicians in Ireland acquiesce to the far right and discuss the "immigration question'
We see what brings this migration about, what it's really like to be forced to leave your own place, why we do it, why we try not to. The book's aims are huge.
But it is exceedingly grim.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Death of parent, Dementia, and War

kiwichill's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Bullying, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Eating disorder, Gore, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Dementia, Deportation, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, and Medical content

sakisreads's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

I found this challenging to get into initially, as the sentences were structured to be very long-winded. However, as I persevered, I got more and more into the story and ended up hooked 😳

I constantly felt like I was on edge reading it and I didn’t know how it would end until the final page. When a story grips you like that, it’s hard to stop reading!

It gives me such Handmaid’s Tale energy too 😫

I’m giving this 4 out of 5 stars, thank you ✨ I will also include the content warnings below 😢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Death, Classism, Gaslighting, and Deportation

meggwennyth's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, War, Body horror, Blood, Deportation, Grief, and Torture

Minor: Medical trauma