Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Swan Book by Alexis Wright

5 reviews

morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

littlewishling's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I struggled to understand what this novel was trying to tell me. There was a lot of nice prose hidden in chunks of text that just left me confused more than anything. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I donโ€™t understand this book. 
I gave up on it halfway a few years ago and decided to try again. The blurb tells you essentially exactly what happens in the story, but I donโ€™t feel like I gained much extra from actually reading the whole book, except some beautiful poetic descriptions of a hot world, getting hotter and more desperate. 
Itโ€™s pretty weird. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Alexis Wrightโ€™s ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ, is a devastating, politically and ecologically engaged, novel of climate change in a future where humans have pushed mother earth to her breaking point.

โ€œ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š? ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™!โ€ฆ๐™‹๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™ค๐™–๐™™ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™›๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™™, ๐™›๐™ž๐™ง๐™š, ๐™™๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™—๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฏ๐™ฏ๐™–๐™ง๐™™. ๐™๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™–๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š๐™™.โ€ 

Wrightโ€™s third novel begins in her ancestral country, the grass plains of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Its heartbreaking but also teaming with humor and political satire. It is literal but at the same time metaphoric.  It is grounded in reality but also steeped in folklore and myth. 

โ€œ๐™๐™ฅ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ž๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ง๐™ช๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ก๐™กโ€™๐™จ ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™š. ๐™‡๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™จ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฅ๐™š ๐™œ๐™–๐™ง๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ ๐™ก๐™š ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ก๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฅ ๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฎ. ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ง๐™–๐™ฏ๐™ฎ ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ง๐™ช๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™˜๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ ๐™š๐™š๐™ฅ๐™จ ๐™– ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ค๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ.โ€

This virus, this โ€˜๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ก๐™œ๐™ž๐™– ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™š๐™ž๐™œ๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จโ€™ is at the heart of the novel.  Itโ€™s a love story about an indigenous girl, her love for the northern skies, and her journey to control own (indigenous) mind and by extension her(indigenous) land.  Itโ€™s a novel about imagination and the ability of human stories to propagate across space and time. 

Oblivion Ethyl(ene) (aka Oblivia), a mute, indigenous, teenage girl, is the central character of this novel.  After a group of local young men high on gas fumes gang raped Oblivia, she fled to a hollowed tree. There she is discovered by an old, white woman named Bella Donna who is herself a climate refugee from the north. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rosehatton's review

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...