Reviews with content warning for Body horror - At Night All Blood is Black

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

44 reviews

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Alfa, a young Senegalese man, goes to France with his best friend to fight in WWI and loses both his friend and his sanity in the process.

This was a good examination of war and trauma and defense mechanisms brains struggling with PTSD will use to protect themselves. I enjoyed the fusion of, like, oral storytelling mechanisms? If that's how you'd call them. The commentary on racism at the front was also very well written and well-incorporated into the story but, on the whole, I just really mostly feel like WTF did I just read? Like, no plot all vibes, but also there is some plot but secondary to the story?

Also, the MC raped a female character for symbolism and I just didn't find it all that necessary to promote the author's point. It feels like this whole story was about how these Senegalese men were duped into war, which in the author's point is the ultimate act of victimization, of violation, and then he holds up an actual rape and is like "we're both raped now" like oh nice you really got back at those racist colonizer french aristocrats by raping this random white woman. Shrug.

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lanid's review against another edition

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dark sad tense

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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nadas's review

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slow-paced

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

1.25

154 times. that's how many times he's said "god's truth" across 145 pages.
this was so boring and repetitive and tedious to read despite such an interesting premise and title. the execution was so bad it's unbelievable.
Also the writing sucks I'm sorry there's nothing poetic about the lines "the brazen rumour ended up with her legs spread,her ass in the air"
and this is just one example of such stupid sexual imagery that add nothing to the plot or scene and makes this book even harder to read.
genuinely upset I thought I was going to love this.

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emmalouisereads's review

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challenging dark emotional 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

This book is a lot. I think the first person narrative is very effective for the story that is being told. I didn’t always like the thoughts of the character, especially some of his comments on women, but it made sense for the character.

The story touches on how people of colour were seen in WW1 and how they were used, but also feared.

It’s a story that will stay with you for a while.

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