Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

16 reviews

maceydowns's review

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Incest, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Animal death, Classism, Eating disorder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pregnancy, Slavery, and Colonisation

emjbarnes's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Police brutality, Death, Incest, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Animal death, and Child death

seventhswan's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This Other Eden is heartbreakingly bleak almost from start to finish; honestly, I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I knew just how *sad* it was going to be. From the first few pages, I felt afraid for the characters as they were introduced, knowing from the blurb and the true story this is based on that a distressing ending was inevitable. And I so quickly grew to love the characters - my initial worries that there would be too many to keep track of were unfounded. Esther in particular was so compelling and I could have read an entire book just about her.

I don't know how to describe how affecting this story was, or how well-written. It doesn't rely on graphic descriptions of any of the horrors that befall the inhabitants of Apple Island, but the way they are alluded to and couched in figurative language is somehow worse. I can't not recommend this book, but it isn't one I expect to want to return to for a very long time.

Audrey Magee's The Colony on steroids, or perhaps tranquillisers. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Incest, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Rape, and Violence

risemini's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Child death, Incest, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Deportation, and Racism

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

---

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.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, and Racism

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

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

---

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Animal death

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

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

2.0

 Nothing happens in this book. I feel that there's no nuance or anything deeper. It just is what it is. The eugenics parts can be interesting if you know the history and the details of it,  but I don't think you'll get it if you haven't heard of it/don't have a science background where you learned a lot about it. I couldn't get attached to any of the characters, I felt bad for them but I didn't fall in love either. It's a quick listen at least. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Incest, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Sexual assault, Murder, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Animal death, and Ableism

deedireads's review

dark emotional 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

As of this writing, This Other Eden is shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award. Still, given that it got some lukewarm reviews in my personal circle, I was surprised by how much I ended up liking it. It’s not perfect, but it is gorgeously written and undeniably moving.

The book is a fully fictional story featuring fictional characters from a real place with a real history: Malaga Island off the coast of Maine, home of a mixed-race community that was evicted and partially institutionalized by the government. There are a lot of characters for a book, but not very many to serve as the sum total of all the island’s inhabitants; still, it’s easy to keep track of them (a testament to Harding’s skill) and even easier to love them.

My main complaint about this book was that it isn’t very researched at all; in an interview, Harding said that he heard about Malaga Island, got inspired, and then essentially stopped researching it (not even visiting), because he didn’t feel like those real people’s story was his to tell. That feels like a cop out to me.

Still, Harding succeeds in much of what he set out to do, at least: paint a devastating picture of eugenics, raise questions about the concept of paradise, and make his readers feel something deeply.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Incest, and Animal death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Pedophilia, and Forced institutionalization