Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Sidérations by Richard Powers

27 reviews

hippejulia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

Aika masentava kuvaus jostain lähitulevaisuudesta joka ei edes ole ilmastokriisikuvauksillaan niin kauana todellisuudesta. Paikoitellen minusta vähän ableistinen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Ableism, and Mental illness

Minor: Medical content and Infidelity

booksinherhead's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I haven’t read something so destructive to my own happiness in a long time. But it was so so good.

BEWILDERMENT by Richard Powers is not for the faint of heart--especially those who are sensitive to the climate crisis.  But for those ready for an emotional novel--with high reward, this is the perfect read. This novel follows an astrobiologist named Theo as he navigates raising his sensitive son Robin in the aftermath of his wife's death.  With the help of cutting edge technology and his wife's memory--Theo thinks he just might be able to raise Robin by himself.  With lush scientific language and a poignant father-son dynamic, this novel is one to remember.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Car accident

jaynovara's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Child death, and Car accident

Minor: Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Infidelity

hollyd19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Reading Bewilderment felt like diving without an oxygen tank, knowing that when you break to go to the surface the coral will disappear, so you hold your breath until it hurts and keep your eyes wide because the beauty is overwhelming but the panic is setting in, too.

Bewilderment follows Theo, an astrophysicist widower, and his young, neurodiverse son named Robin. The two are attempting to navigate their increasingly unstable world, on a personal level after the loss of their wife/mom & in terms of climate change and political unrest. When Robin is threatened with expulsion for an outburst at school, Theo enrolls him in a neurofeedback study happening at his university, which sets in motion the rest of the book. 

This was my first Powers and I was very moved by his writing. I took so many notes and highlighted several passages. Relatedly, I felt that Robin’s neurodiversity was portrayed with tenderness and honesty. 

Now some minor spoilers to talk about why it wasn’t an unequivocal five stars.

I strongly dislike gratuitous tragedy and since the rest of the book felt masterfully subdued, I was pretty bothered by the revelation that Aly was pregnant when she died. It added nothing. In a similar vein, I was unsatisfied with how Powers wrote the bit about Aly’s possible infidelity. At first it was guardedly hinted at, but when Theo asks “Is he mine?” it felt a bit ham-handed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Animal death, and Self harm

Minor: Car accident, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

atamano's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity

kah296's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I thought this book was PHENOMENAL. In my opinion, it was better than The Overstory. The writing and characters were just gorgeous and it was well-paced. My only complaint is that the end felt a bit rushed. Even so, I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time and will be recommending it to friends and family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Animal death, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Car accident and Ableism

lesmedmeg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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

Bra bok. Korte kapitler fortalt fra en enslig forelders perspektiv. Jeg likte hvordan naturen sto i sentrum, og at vi mennesker bare eksisterer i den, og ofte ødelegger den. Skulle ønske vi levde på en annen planet, eller bare behandlet vår bedre. 

Han bare døde... Mens han alene prøvde å fikse våre ugjerninger, som en levende utvidelse av moren som en gang gjorde det samme

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, and Death of parent

laurenmvmills's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Animal death, Death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Medical content, Bullying, and Car accident

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism and Car accident

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, and Self harm

justovereherereading's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

2.5

The relationship between the boy and his father in this book is wonderful. The boy with his additional needs and the fathers willingness to fight for him. 
This book left me a bit Bewildered if I’m honest. I loved it as much as I didn’t…I don’t know how to explain it because I’m not sure I even fully understood some aspects of the book, it was as simple as it was complex! The book is futuristic in a present sense & otherworldly in an earthly sense…I think it just went over my head in some ways with all the scientific language and the planet explanations! 
The ending is both sad and hopeful at the same time! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Child death, and Death of parent