Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

6 reviews

saraaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Wow, this book was a lot. A lot of good, a lot-ish of bad. But surely a lot.
The first few chapters were great – the gentleness and simplicity with which Roy touched themes usually considered taboo or niche made for a comforting read. 
The story read like an ensemble of fables, and as such its characters are only briefly focused on, barely skimming the surface of their essence, touching only those traits of theirs that are relevant to the narrative. At the end of the second chapter, I grew fond of Anjum, but the narrator keeps such a distance that she feels in a way out of reach, visible only through binoculars that follow her as she moves her residence from place to place.
After a hundred pages focusing on her character and the people and places that make up her world, I really couldn't care less about the others at they came into frame quite abruptly. This could easily have been a two novels installments, as, though surely strictly interlinked, the two main stories fail to be seamlessly bound together. It felt like she couldn't decide which story to tell, which battle to fight in, so instead of making a collection of shorter stories, she tried very hard to fit everything into a single box, full to the brim, so that the reader ends up struggling to find anything at all. It was as if Roy was trying to fit as many of her opinions as she could into these pages, and then some more.
The men's voices fell particularly flat, like heroines' in a 1800s male novelist's work.

Both The Landlord chapters' first person narration split the novel in two, and Garson Hobart felt like an intruder in someone else's story. Perhaps both things were intentional, with Roy you can hardly ever know.

But all in all, I'm glad I read it – it's a heavily politicized book, with even heavier themes, so definitely not a light leisure read, but offers an important perspective nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Grief, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Murder, Dementia, Deportation, Genocide, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, War, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Confinement, Deadnaming, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Misogyny

joanna_del_ro's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Slow burn, but satisfying journey and conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, War, Genocide, Animal death, Physical abuse, Violence, Transphobia, Torture, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Racial slurs

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This author’s last book was hard for me to read and this one is too. They are so loved though so it must be something I’m missing. I lost the thread of the narrative often and I couldn’t really tell you what the books about beyond extremism and India. And maybe trans rights?

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, Violence, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexual assault, War, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Murder

ashza12's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Genocide, and Police brutality

loy127's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Murder, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Death, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Gun violence, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Racism, and Police brutality

kwitshadie's review against another edition

I was hoping I would warm up to the chaotic story but when the plot turned--60 pages in--to a description of religious atrocities I gave up in disgust.  Babies impaled on tridents is not a topic for an afternoon's amusement with a book.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Religious bigotry