Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Circle by Dave Eggers

8 reviews

asafekindofhigh's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide, Body shaming, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

phantomgecko's review

challenging sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I hated this book. It's agonizing to read.

But the 4 star rating isn't a mistake. Eggers had a message and related it perfectly.

Science fiction is a critique of the present. The Circle uses hyperbole but like just barely. The real possibility of this particular dystopia is chilling and sooooo frustrating.

Mae is the perfect protagonist. I didn't agree with a single one of her choices. Everything she chose was wrong or stupid. Her thought processes were believable, though, so it unfortunately all made sense. To have a character that swallowed all the propaganda (and helped create it) as the main character made the message that much more effective. More effective than just having the "bad guys" do all the bad things.

Honestly, I could write a really in depth literary analysis of this novel, but I don't have the time, and doing so would be too depressing/aggravating. And also patronizing, I think. I was originally going to point out specific things that happen in the book and how insidious they are, but...as a reader I trust you to see it. 

It's not subtle. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Cursing, Fatphobia, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

melissa_m_m's review

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

missjeann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Classism

ashm9's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

greatexpectations77's review

challenging slow-paced

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

1.25

God, what a trainwreck. This book misses all of the eeriness that would have made it memorable. Also the author used the word "ebullient" like 5 times. And there was intense fatphobia toward the ex-boyfriend. And I hated the main character - I just hated her. She felt very much like the author had never met a human woman before and thinks that all women are fat-shaming brats who are SO ANGRY when their parents have a medical attack and then get better??? because they had to drive to see them?? Damn, am I sorry that I finished this. As a brilliant reviewer of the movie (also apparently terrible) wrote online, the plot is "*clears throat* what if facebook but more." Also def characterized schizophrenia incorrectly. Like, google a thing once, dude. How am I supposed to give a single dried fig about a character who can't respect a single boundary???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

If you enjoy books where you like to root for the main character, pass.

iridaceae's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

morganperks's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Child death and Kidnapping