Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The River by Peter Heller

4 reviews

kimmag92's review

The only reason I was reading this was because my library picked it for its book club and that’s the only reason I made it as far as I did. I absolutely hated this book. The River is set in the “Canadian North” and why I don’t know. The author should have set it in the USA as it really perpetuates the myth of Canada being “empty” and “wild” (I’m Canadian fyi). Also I couldn’t find a Maskwa river that emptied into Hudson’s Bay and the rifle our MCs carry isn’t even legal here. His description of Indigenous peoples is offensive as well his use and description of women and fat people. Our MCs are supposed to be the best of best friends but they hardly talk to one another and both are pretentious asshats who believe their more “primitive” way of travelling is better even though they have all sorts of modern gear. As well they’re supposed to be outdoor kind of guys but have no issue fishing or hunting out of season or burning their trash. 

We haven’t even got to Heller’s writing. I feel like he had the idea for this story but couldn’t made it to a reasonable page count so to pad it out he goes on and on about fishing, the flora and fauna, and anything but plot to show us how “deep and outdoorsy” the MCs are.

Overall, only read this book if you want a pretentious story about fishing, paddling, and deeply offensive prose about Indigenous people, women, and fat people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Murder, Blood, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Death, Cursing, and Colonisation

mschmidt's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow is all I can say. I thought this would be a slow build but once it got going, man was it going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, and Rape

horizonous's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

◦ Death = Friend

gm_vak's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence