Scan barcode
indiindi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Incest, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
inaczej's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Excrement, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Rape
msmagoo502's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Animal death, Sexual content, Grief, Sexual violence, Incest, Excrement, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Incestual undertonesregoddard99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Grief, Death, and Incest
james1star's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Plot: not much to say here, it’s a character driven novel where little really happens. We’re following ten-year-old Jas via first person as she lives on a dairy farm in rural Netherlands with her family. Coming up to Christmas, Jas is worried her rabbit will be killed so wishes God take another… her oldest brother for example. This does occur after he drowns and what ensues is an exploration of grief on the family and her interactions with her younger sister Hanna and older brother Obbe.
Rijneveld does do a decent job at showing how grief takes over the lives of Jas’s parents with the mum becoming reserved, stops eating and increasingly suicidal. The dad turns very cold with both neglecting their remaining children to fend for themselves. This dark portrayal and decent into mental deterioration is very apparent and depicted relatively well. The writing is decent enough as well but as the book develops any positives became far outweighed by the negatives.
My main issue with this book is there’s just far too much grossness involved which become boring over time and just horrible to read. Rehashing depictions of bodily functions and products (snot, faeces, urine, bile, vomit, etc) are not only disgusting but I don’t understand why there’s so much of it. Reading about animal abuse and death are things I hate at the best of time but when there’s no justice served… nope!! I despise this so much, it’s a thing that attaches to me strongly and I can’t shift the feeling of disgust and anger. What’s worse is there are no consequences for these actions and it’s a terrible portrayal of such situations. A lot of the book also doesn’t make entire sense to me, specifically the interactions between Obbe and his sisters. He is a repulsive character in my opinion and the way he thinks and acts are really unfathomable that adds to my dislike of the book. In a similar vein, all the siblings don’t act in a way appropriate, it’s like Rijneveld put in all these horrific things over and over to impact the reader… but it just disgusts me. The family are part of a community with the children going to school so they’re not totally isolated which makes their actions more questionable. There’s a lot of hypocrisy prevalent as well, a note I picked up on was the anger the family feels to those culling the cows later in the book where they’re literally dairy farmers who abuse, exploit and eventually murders cows in the process… didn’t sit right with me there.
I might have more to say but don’t care to waste any more time on this book that I hated so yh. Read it if you want but I wouldn’t. Any messages and what Rijneveld wanted to achieve, for me they failed and I will not be reading their new book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Incest, Violence, Body horror, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Child death, Vomit, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Antisemitism
fictionalsarah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Incest, Suicide, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
tholmz's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Sexual violence and Child death
emzilia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a beautiful novel because it is written beautifully, but the story is anything but.
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
bomenvernietiger's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Incest, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, and Excrement
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Body shaming, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit
l4r4777's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Don’t pick this up if you’re easily squeamish and uncomfortable with any of the content warnings associated with this book.
Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship