Reviews with content warning for Violence - Long Division

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Long Division by Kiese Laymon

11 reviews

nadia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

What a fantastic, unique, funny, clever book!

It has a theme I often struggle with — time travel — but I got it enough to appreciate the quality of what Kiese has put together. I did spend some time trying to piece together exactly what happened when afterwards, and whether I missed something that was meant to make it all click, before realising that that's not really the important part. I got the overall gist and it was a brilliant backdrop for such important conversations.

Probably one I'd wanna reread in a couple years and I'm also excited to read more of Laymon's work.

P.S. I hear a more recent edition of this book has the book in a different structure? I've got an edition from 2013.

P.P.S. This was one of the first ever recommendations Rob's first StoryGraph rec algorithm gave to me! The model has come on a very long way since then but it's very cool to see that it was getting a lot right back then.

Content Warnings

ukponge's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging 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

3.75

Content Warnings

cassielaj's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is… confusing, funny, smart, and intricate. I started confused and ended even more confused, but I was intrigued throughout. The writing is great and it definitely makes you think.

Content Warnings

meemawreads's review

Go to review page

challenging lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I picked this book up because I was intrigued by reading half a book, flipping it over, and reading the book-within-the-book next. I’ll admit I’m not smart enough for time travel stories, but I still LOVED this book despite my confusion.
In the first book City Coldson, a Mississippi teen in 2013, comes across a strange book with no author in which a kid named City Coldson is the main character… but in 1985. I read that this was initially published with the books in alternating chapters but the author intended it to be read this way, so even though I was confused I’m glad I experienced it as intended. I adore City and the voice of this whole book, I love the playful language, I admire the ability to write kids who don’t understand everything without coming off as adults playing ignorant. If you have the patience and are comfortable not knowing everything, this book is a fun ride. Four and a half taters 🥔🥔🥔🥔🍠/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Content Warnings

taratearex's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

A completely unique book, I'm still not sure I understand what happened but time travel and magical realism does that to me. A character driven story of a young Black boy who finds a strange book that leads to a time travel mystery. Clever word play and fantastic prose, delving into heavy themes with humor. One of those books you just want to start over from the beginning to catch everything you missed.

Content Warnings