Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Brickmakers by Selva Almada

12 reviews

biggotortensen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Muy muy bueno. Entré esperando un Romeo y Julieta, pero creo que me termino llevando algo más interesante que es la herencia de la violencia familiar. Tanto intrafamiliar como entre familias, pero me resulto muy interesante esa herencia que reciben los hijos del odio, el resentimiento. La venganza. Las últimas 50 páginas son particularmente crueles y atrapantes porque cuando se empieza a asomar lo único que podía curar las heridas -el amor-, te baja de un zondazo (habiéndote avisado que lo iba a hacer). El relato quebrado, no-lineal funciona muy bien y la hace una lectura rápida. 

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pibbit's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5


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uhm_kai's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.25

this was lovely and easy to read, although I kind of wish it was longer so you could get to know the characters a bit better

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menomica's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Pero la puta madre, cómo chillan las sillas vacías. Cuando esto está lleno, con la música, ni se nota.

Joder cuánto mate había en este libro. 

Yo creo que un resumen más apto para este libro que he visto sería que es la historia de dos hombres rivalizando como niños por años y luego pasan ese revalidad a sus hijos.

Creo que el único personaje macho que me gustó de este libro fue Angelito, que se quedaba a lo suyo y simplemente se enamoró de un chico un poco looser.

Todos los hombres de este libro eran algún tipo de cabezón, y creo que eso fue a propósito, como para mostrar como la ignorancia y el machismo causan tantos problemas (creo que todos los problemas que surgieron de este libro fueron a causa del ego de un hombre o múltiples).

Después de todo me ha gustado este libro, aunque a veces me costó entenderlo debido a que tuvo tantos argentinismos, y yo claramente no soy argentino

Un día pienso volver y releer este libro, que seguramente hay muchas cosas que fallé o no capté como debería 

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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srm's review

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dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0


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milojean_reads's review

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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dianahincureads's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Marciano Miranda and Pájaro Tamai are dying in an amusement park under a foreboding white sky. Starting with its climax, the novel retraces their families’ history and the moments that led to the tragedy. Past and present intertwine, memories and the cruel finality of death.

Selva Almada masterfully shows the catastrophic consequences toxic masculinity has on men, especially those in the making, little boys that mirror their fathers. Becoming a man through cruelty and disruption, through the brutal suppression of one’s feelings (and, consequently, one’s humanity), through heterosexuality. Being unsuccessful fitting this narrow and toxic definition leads to conflict. Marciano and Pájaro are trapped, shaped by their parents’ mistakes and environment. They pay for it with their lives.

The women in this novel are not depicted as victims. They are strong and resourceful. However, they have incorporated all sorts of survival mechanisms to avoid triggering the men in their lives (such as “unobtrusively, so as not to hurt his pride, Celina had begun to take charge of the brickworks”).

Almada’s writing is incredibly effective. Accurate in its simplicity, every word reverberates with meaning. The author constructs the portrait of a rural community with two rival families (better said, the rivalry of the two fathers). The result is a realistic LGBTQ+ Romeo and Juliet, a mixture of trauma and faith.

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mayangkinanti's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The blurb says too much. Would be a better reading experience knowing less going into it.

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