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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-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:
Yes
A quick tour-de-force that mixes the darkness of war with race and class to a truly rancid conclusion.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
challenging
inspiring
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
historical fiction, world war I, centers around friendship, loss and grief, french literature/original language: french
Brutal, ugly, and sickening in so few words.
Repetitive in a way I’m sure is meant to reflect the narrator’s deteriorating mindset but it does become a bit tedious to read, nonetheless. He’s desperately clinging to reality and often trying to convince himself he did the right thing or that he’s even a person at all.
When it’s not repetitive, there are some stunning quotes. It also criticizes the hypocrisy of war, “You will content yourself with killing them, not mutilating them. The civilities of war forbid it.” The “civilities of war” an oxymoron. Certain disturbingly violent acts are lauded but others are condemned. Who determines this? And who sends young boys and men to fight a war for a country that’s not even theirs? A country that villainizes these men and sees them as “savages,” only to turn to this “savagery” to save themselves. An unflinching portrayal of the truly disgusting, predatory, and exploitative practices of war.
Repetitive in a way I’m sure is meant to reflect the narrator’s deteriorating mindset but it does become a bit tedious to read, nonetheless. He’s desperately clinging to reality and often trying to convince himself he did the right thing or that he’s even a person at all.
When it’s not repetitive, there are some stunning quotes. It also criticizes the hypocrisy of war, “You will content yourself with killing them, not mutilating them. The civilities of war forbid it.” The “civilities of war” an oxymoron. Certain disturbingly violent acts are lauded but others are condemned. Who determines this? And who sends young boys and men to fight a war for a country that’s not even theirs? A country that villainizes these men and sees them as “savages,” only to turn to this “savagery” to save themselves. An unflinching portrayal of the truly disgusting, predatory, and exploitative practices of war.
A short, but powerful story about Alfa, a Sengalese man fighting in WWI. His best friend is gravely injured and and begs Alfa multiple times to kill him. When Alfa is unable to do so, his friend dies a slow, torturous death. Alfa then spirals into a madness filled with violence and brutality.
It’s a harrowing and sad story about war, and specifically in this book it’s about the exploitation of Africans who were drafted to fight for the French against the Germans—black men being used to fight a white man’s war. And then interwoven throughout is a folktale-like backstory of Alfa, his best friend, and the village they come from.
It’s a harrowing and sad story about war, and specifically in this book it’s about the exploitation of Africans who were drafted to fight for the French against the Germans—black men being used to fight a white man’s war. And then interwoven throughout is a folktale-like backstory of Alfa, his best friend, and the village they come from.
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense