Reviews tagging 'War'

America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo

5 reviews

bestknownfor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I loved this. Strong flawed characters and a fantastic sense of place and time. The only thing I wasn't entirely sure on was the shift in narration for

Paz and Rosalyn's

parts; it worked just as well as the core narration, but I'm not sure why there was the stylistic shift. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual violence

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Torture, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Bullying, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Minor: Infidelity and Deportation

e_l_e's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Death, and War

Minor: Child abuse and Homophobia

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Homophobia

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.5

I really do not think that I am the target audience for this book, and that is perfectly fine but it just means that it was a bit difficult for me personally to really get the story in all its nuances and complexities. I really do not know how to explain it, it felt a bit like always being a step behind and not really being able to catch up and that might be completely intentional on the author's part but it just made for a bit of an unbalanced reading experience. 

For the most part I liked the writing style and there were some passages/reflections that really stood out to me, but other times I struggled a bit with it (for example, sometimes I found the sentences either too long-wided and confusing or a bit too flat).  
Since the narration moves between different timelines, at certain points I got a bit lost and forgot what and how much we as readers already knew about a certain event. Also, I'm not sure that I appreciated the shifts in point of view, I guess that I just liked certain narrators more than others. 

All in all, it was a bit of an up and down reading experience for me. I got on better with the beginning and the final sections, but I found harder to get through the middle part of the story and also struggled with the more explict parts because they are really not my cup of tea.
Also, I don't really think that I understood the very final scene of the novel, its meaning or what it stood for went right over my head. 
I didn't like the book as much as I'd hoped but I'm sure it'll work better for other readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, War, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Drug use, Infidelity, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Vomit