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sunn_bleach's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is a fascinating book that's a whole lot deeper than either the initial or secondary conceit (eald anglisc, post-apocalypse 1000 years ago). "The Wake" is one of those books with a high Thinkability Index; regardless of whether or not I enjoyed it, I keep *thinking* about it. By Kingsnorth's own words in foreword and afterword, it's tempting to think you're supposed to consider Buccmaster a hero of the story. It's not a spoiler to say that's... not the truth - but the sheer destruction and horror of William the Conqueror's arrival is nonetheless demonstrated everywhere in this novel. Buccmaster himself is a dirty fucking coward in every sense of the imagination, from his obsession with the eald gods (that don't even align with the reality of their worship, as other characters call him out for) to how jealous he is that other men fight for Angland despite him saying he's for the struggle, too. But *how* that cowardice is evoked and how it plays with the broader Wake and Buccmaster's green men is a fascinating psychological profile that emphasized the "history" part of the "historical novel".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia and Misogyny
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse
thomme_k's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A profoundly disturbing book, that I found challenging in the engagement with the dark spectra of the main character's psyche, as I simultaneously rooted for him - at least in part - whilst finding him abhorrent, and wondered whether the author expected me to find him attractive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Xenophobia, Blood, War, Murder, and Sexual violence
Minor: Animal death, Sexism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
It deals with the colonisation of the British Isles by the Norman invaders, including all of the violence that a military occupation - and guerrilla warfare against that occupation - involves. It becomes progressively clearer through the book that the main character and narrator may be suffering from undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia.
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