Reviews tagging 'Racism'

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

37 reviews

loiscarlisle's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Murder, Child death, Sexual violence, Incest, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, and Adult/minor relationship

useyourgoodeye's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was better as I kept reading. The writing was great with details but not a lot of character backstory or information below the surface. It almost seems like a list of characters but no real substance. The subject is very interesting and I would have loved more follow up and character plots.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Death

squintyfarmer's review

sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Incest

lottie1803's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Incest, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Ableism, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

bodenleben's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Incest

ka_ask2002's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Classism

Moderate: Incest and Racism

bessadams's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, and Rape

ebpertner's review

dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Animal death

soswiin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

had some incredibly strong moments but failed to really pull me in for any part that wasn't the second section. really didn't learn too much about most of the cast despite most of the book depicting the mundane parts of the islanders' lives. so dull for the majority of the book that i was only truly invested in the painting scene and the occasional tense end of a paragraph. though there were some genuinely striking lines, it felt like harding was trying to hard to be deep in his narrations and descriptions that it just came off as pretentious. the lack of quotation marks and abundance of run-ons just made this a chore to read at times as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Incest and Rape

thewickermage's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

It seems a lot of people didn't love this. I did. It started out a little rough and I wasn't sure if I would get into it, but once the ark story was finished I found myself fully immersed in the lives of the Apple islanders in 1911. It's an important story and so beautifully told. My favourite part was when Paul Harding referenced an archaeological survey conducted 100 years after the forced relocation of the islanders, where they found that the islanders lived no differently than the people on the mainland... it was a beautiful moment in an otherwise very sad story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Religious bigotry, Incest, Murder, Sexual content, Hate crime, and Racism