Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Civil War Land in Bad Decline by George Saunders

3 reviews

joyce_porter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Mental illness, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Bullying, Violence, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Murder

elly29'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

4.75

Wow. These short stories and novella are so dark and gritty, and they are sketched-out like Franz Kline paintings. To put it mildly, Saunders' writing is economical, and he shows you the darkness that accompanies the human experience and within the human heart; all of his stories, though, are crowned with a brief glimpse through that darkness to the other half of human experience, which is love. Those grains of kindness are redemptive. At times the writing made me ill -- there's abuse, and cruelty, and slavery, and death -- and then other times I was ugly-crying at the smallest kindnesses and the beauty therein. 

Though it was initially published in 1996, I think a lot of the themes are relevant to today: prejudice, racial profiling, ableism, poverty, distraught economical systems, and environmental havoc, to name a fewz

"CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" and "Isabella" were my favorites. "Bounty," the novella, was perhaps a little longer than necessary but still had that satisfying (albeit one-lined) redemption.

Even the author's note at the end was worthwhile; obvs written by a white man in privilege, living the standard dream of having a family while having his soul sucked away at work. (I can respect him for stealing away time and resources to write this book.)

I don't recommend this if reading difficult books could trigger a depressive episode, or if the state of the news makes you excessively sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Fatphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Racism, Murder, and Body shaming

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Ableism

abbystevenson's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Genocide, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence