Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Das Licht der letzten Tage by Emily St. John Mandel

168 reviews

mantisshrimp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Minor: Rape

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

"He woke to quiet voices. This had been happening more and more lately, this nodding off unexpectedly, and it left him with an unsettled intimation of rehearsal. You fall asleep for short periods and then for longer periods and then forever."

Compellingly written prose with a well-developed cast of characters. Whilst I wish Kristen's storyline had more events within it, I really liked the book and I think it is both hopeful and unsentimental about humanity, in a way that I suspect might be altered in the TV adaptation. 

This book has a lot to say about art and community-building and the role these will play in coming crises. It felt resonant with ecological anxieties about climate change and social anxieties in the age of COVID-19. Some of the passages about process and industrialisation felt a tad oversimplified and neoliberal - surely an Amazon delivery driver or a factory worker making snowglobes has complex, nuanced feelings about their labour and their lives that goes beyond gratitude for a job - but everything else was thoughtful, interesting, well-paced and moving. I loved Kirsten and Miranda. What wonderful characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

liliaweber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The threads of different lives are woven together across different eras - in a non-chronological arrangement of chapters that somehow flows beautifully, rhythmically, like a song.

This book is basically a meditation on a quote from Star Trek, which is a mantra often repeated by the characters themselves: "survival is insufficient." It's about why the human need to create art and tell stories is worth braving the danger of an unpredictable post-apocalyptic world. It's also about the choice to let go of what we've lost vs the drive to rebuild it, or how to balance both. I ugly cried more than once.

Three of the main characters are sympathetic, compelling, interesting. If there's any flaw in this book it's that the one character that glues the others together - the first character mentioned in the opening line - is self-centered, boring to read about, and doesn't grow. Defeating the villain is only a small sliver of the story; the main goals of the main characters are to survive a post-apocalyptic world, to uncover missing truth, and to create something worth surviving for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Murder, killing out of self-defense, and death from natural causes are depicted with some detail and are central to the story. The main villain of the story intends to traffick ("marry") a child but she escapes before he can. Suicide, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence are mentioned, but with very few details.

whirl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The description of the start of the pandemic are a bit too spot on now that there has been a pandemic.. although it really highlights how lucky we’ve been that covid-19 was much less deadly!

The book has a nice pace, and just ambles through the lives of various survivors loosely connected to each other before the pandemic hits

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Murder

While the book describes a post apocalyptic world which is clearly more lawless and violent, it doesn’t go into unnecessarily detailed descriptions and is more about what happens to people’s minds and personality to live in such a world

lemonflower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

indiarose8's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

3.5

Beautifully and poetically written, this book is a dystopian look at humanity and relationships, as well as the role art plays in our lives. I really enjoyed the descriptions but found the switching back and forth between time periods jarring. It also moved a little too slowly for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

Station Eleven is an eerily realistic post-collapse narrative. Most interestingly, Station Eleven's power lies in neither the characters nor the plot. Rather, the strength of this novel relies entirely on the palpable and riveting atmosphere that Mandel has created. By utilizing a nonlinear timeline and multiple points of view, Mandel effortlessly immerses readers in the feeling of collective post-apocalyptic uncertainty.
Despite the very bleak nature of this novel's events, Station Eleven is ultimately a beautiful and hopeful book. It's a novel about chosen families, human resilience, and the power of art.

Station Eleven is such an unforgettable and unique addition to the dystopian genre. I loved Mandel's writing and cannot wait to read more of her work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

emhunsbaker's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

sfbookgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Whew, what a book. And what a book to read during a pandemic. I could have maybe skipped reading this book entirely but I was really curious to know what all of the hype was about…and also because I love dystopian novels. The story goes back and forth between pre-pandemic days and the present. The majority of the novel surrounds around the Traveling Symphony who performs Shakesphere and music for the scarce communities of survivors. 

 

Station Eleven is eerie and at some points terrifying as one would expect from a novel like this one. What resonated with me most was a moment in the book in which they speak about alternative universes and question whether there is another reality out there that also experienced a pandemic, but not as destructive as this one…which must mean that Emily St. John Mandel is able to predict the future. It was also super interesting to read reviews written prior to 2020 and note what reviewers thought of this book with no insight into what would happen in just a few years time. Overall, an excellent novel that doesn’t appear as captivating as it may have been perceived prior to our pandemic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, Violence, and Grief

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence