Reviews tagging 'Death'

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

94 reviews

carls_d's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

God's truth, the story takes place amidst the harsh conditions of World War I trenches, featuring Alfa Ndiaye, a black Senegalese soldier serving in a French army division known as the "Chocolate" army. Unable to bring himself to end the suffering of his critically wounded friend Mademba, Alfa spirals into madness and starts brutally murder his enemies in gruesome ways. As a grim token, he takes one of their severed hands as a trophy after each deadly act.

I would glue myself to Mademba so the bullet that killed him would kill me, or the bullet that missed him would miss me.

The story is terrifying, gruesome, violent, graphic and repetitive. The last part went a bit of the rails and was more confusing and this downgraded my rating.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Murder, Racism, and Death

abbyisabellas's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

maya7's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Narrated by Alfa, a Senegalese soldier serving in the French army during World War I. Facing the painful death of his almost brother-like friend, Alfa was slowly falling into a pit of madness and finally collapsed.

Repetitive sentences were a bit hard for me to get into the story at first, but I was horrified reading the last chapter and went back to the first page again, then the story felt different with more understanding about the background. 

A dark and powerful novella about the violence and madness caused by war and colonialism.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Kidnapping

jessdownes's review

dark reflective fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Blood, and Death

fernbomb's review against another edition

1.5

I expected something profound with this book, but I cannot get over this book’s treatment of women. Perhaps I missed the point but referring to trenches as a woman “opening up herself” just felt unnecessary and pseudo-intellectual.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Racism

rebeccaquinton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Violence, Murder, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Blood, Torture, Abandonment, War, Suicide, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Gore, Death, and Colonisation

maren_hemsath's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Racism, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and Blood

carmen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, and Violence

agustdefault's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

4.0

brutal and violent but incredible. the way the author writes the horrors of war and grief and guilt was a visceral experience 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Colonisation, War, and Blood

ghost_rider's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, War, Death, Gore, Rape, and Body horror

Minor: Excrement