Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

17 reviews

bookwormcat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Torture, Police brutality, Suicide, Bullying, Child death, Body horror, Racial slurs, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, War, Excrement, and Violence

emmaleigh55's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Death, War, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Murder, Excrement, Hate crime, Rape, and Torture

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Ooof, that was a tough one. It is dark, heavy and very atmospherical/vivid. I understand that this is what may make it so great for some. For me, it was just a bit much. But I one hundred percent understand the privilege I have in saying this. I enjoyed the story and Dita as a character. The story was multidimensional as were the characters. The translation was done very well; it read like it was written in English. What surprises me is that this is listed as young adult. with the writing style, details and description, I would not say it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Emotional abuse, Child death, Torture, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide, Racism, Religious bigotry, War, Violence, Confinement, and Hate crime

Minor: Deportation, Classism, Grief, Medical content, Xenophobia, Rape, and Cursing

rachjaki744's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Rape, and Terminal illness

cooldudenick's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Genocide, War, Violence, and Antisemitism

Minor: Suicide

grandslamdenny's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, and War

Moderate: Excrement, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Grief

leila_reads_too_much's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Vomit, War, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Confinement, Death, Religious bigotry, and Torture

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Sexual harassment

siobhanlh's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Torture, Suicide, Grief, Antisemitism, and Hate crime

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Iturbe says in an afterword to the book that the facts and history are the bricks in his story, and the fiction is the mortar that he uses to hold it all together. I think this is an important distinction from some other fictional Auschwitz stories, which have been found to have more inaccuracies and controversy regarding "sensationalising" people's real stories. That's not to say that keeping the reality alive isn't important (which it so obviously is), but this book handles the information as sensitively as I think it's possible to do with anything that includes fiction.

The idea of using books for a sense of escape or normality even at the very worst moments of humanity is incredibly humbling. And the "living books" on offer come so close to creating beauty in this bleak landscape. That there are more books on offer than the physical ones in Dita's meagre library, thanks to the vivid memories of some of the teachers and their retellings of popular stories. It's astonishing the lengths adults (and older children like Dita) would go to in order to give the younger prisoners opportunities and education.

Of course the emotion is so raw throughout, as the dates and the number of dead are all taken from accurate records. It's a really difficult book but gives as much information as it can about what happened to all of the people mentioned after the events of the story. The biographies at the end are fascinating - in particular it was astonishing to me how long Joseph Mengele was able to evade capture and live a relatively normal life, after the atrocities he committed and oversaw. I think because of all that it's an important book for keeping stories alive for all the victims, whether they survived or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, War, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Murder, Hate crime, and Deportation

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was… It’s hard to put into words how powerful this book and the characters are. Such an amazing story; full of heart ache and truth behind real people who literally survived hell. 
You know a book is amazing when you become invested and feel at times as if you are with the characters. I cried, I found myself gasping when things were revealed, I had to put my cheez-its down because i couldn’t eat while some parts where explained. This is a must read for everyone. History repeats itself, and education is a powerful weapon; the Nazis’ knew this and tried to destroy knowledge and truth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia