Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

7 reviews

oz2021's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Religious bigotry and Stalking

fanchera's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.25

I struggled to get through this book. While I am very sympathetic to what the author experienced, no one should ever have to face a brutal attack, have to fight for their life and be left permanently disfigured. It’s very sad that he became a victim of a horrendous attack. My issue with this book was the author’s attitude. It’s quite evident that he grew up affluent and privileged. That is neither here nor there. It was his narcissistic attitude about life in general and also how it all relates to the care he received. His expectations were quite over the top. I did not enjoy his pretentious writing and it’s obvious that he put many middle class citizens far below where he sees himself. It’s his story to tell. I just didn’t enjoy the attitude in which he spoke or how he put others so far beneath himself.

An example of something that rubbed me the wrong way. When his assailant is arrested and they are preparing for trial, he decides that he’s fine with his assailant taking a plea deal and getting out of prison after serving 30 years because, since he would be 116 years old, he would never have to worry about his assailant hunting him down again in his lifetime. But his assailant would be 54 when he would come up for parole. Which, to me, is still young enough to commit another crime, to attack another innocent civilian whose beliefs don’t align with his. To me, that’s a very selfish attitude to have, let alone admit to openly.

I am a pretty sympathetic person but as his story goes on I felt less and less toward him because he comes across as such an unlikable person. By the end I was void of much emotion at all. And for me that is very difficult to digest. How can I feel that way about someone who has been stabbed by a complete stranger 15 times?! I was more sympathetic to him as a complete stranger and less sympathetic now that I’ve had a glimpse of his thoughts and how he would see him as a lowly nurse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Religious bigotry

raebelanger's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

elisecavanaugh's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Medical content

samchase112's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Here I go again, continuing my streak of reading famous novelist's memoirs before ever picking up their fiction. This was a powerful one, about a devastating and powerful event and the life-changing aftermath. There's no question Salman Rushdie is a thoughtful, opinionated, resilient person, but his kindness, humor, and love for his family are what shone through in this memoir. While I'm not sure it will become a long-term favorite, the first half was extremely moving, and I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Terminal illness

renn20751's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

2.0

While it's absolutely important to find ways to work through trauma, some things should stay in a diary or journal.
This work alternated between snippets of grief to condescension towards those who don't see life the same as Rushdie. 
The sheer amount of self congratulations and navel-gazing was exhausting. I shoul  probably stick to his fictional work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Classism

shay43geek's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood