Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

6 reviews

mr_cain's review against another edition

The characters are just so unlikeable

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Alcohol, Blood, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Cursing

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

A Children's Bible follows a group of teenagers and their younger siblings in what is essentially a multi-family vacation gone wrong. Giving a plot synopsis is difficult as the story is told from an unreliable narrator who also doesn't really know what is going on. We start off with the parents being uninvolved and the kids kind of being on their own, that is a continued thread we follow. What happens in the second half is a climate disaster in terms of a flood that leads to apocalypse style events where we have raiders and bandits and various illnesses. All of these are told from the first person rambling perspective of a, likely 17ish-year-old, teen. 

The characters are incredibly two dimensional. We don't know enough about them to really care as the narrator is telling us back conversations and she doesn't really like anyone other than her younger brother, who is maybe around 10? The only real character we get info about is the younger brother, Jack, who gets a bible as a gift and sees it as a metaphor for everything happening. 

The themes in here are kind of unclear, or heavy handed. It was clear there is a climate crisis and we can blame the older generation and the wealthy for that. However, the conversation never really happens anymore than at a childish level of "you did this!" There was a current of biblical stuff which was... unusual? 

Lastly, there was only one character who was described as having "olive toned skin" and he was the character that took the most abuse from the plot. There was a lot of fat-phobia as well that was just unnecessary.  

Content Warning that isn't an option in the drop down

death during child birth and closed door sexual interactions among miners

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Violence, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Death, Cursing, Torture, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism

chaoticweevil's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Classism, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

literarylion's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Pros:

• All-around well-crafted
• Interesting take on climate disaster
• Strong character development and establishment of POV 

Cons:

• A bit derivative of other authors and stories (general dystopia)
• I had trouble orienting myself in the setting for the first quarter or so
• Felt rushed towards the end

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Cursing, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Pregnancy

carracarmenchu's review

adventurous dark medium-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

A Children's Bible chronicles the adventures of a group of pre-teens who vacation with their parents while trying to keep their distance from them, and when a storm hits, it is they who have to act in place of their neglectful parents, and subsequently flee into a world of their own. I found the story ingenious, an amusing way of representing the generational difference that is often accentuated when children are no longer children, of the desire to leave the nest, to reproach the mistakes of their ancestors and seek an ideology, a religion, a way of life of their own.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

mgraves89's review

adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Infidelity