Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

19 reviews

bickley_moon's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood

mollmccaff's review

dark fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Animal death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Blood

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

 

“A Children’s Bible” by Lydia Millet

A group of children and teenagers are frustrated by their parents, holed up in a shared vacation home where the parents act without care or responsibility. When a hurricane sweeps through and begins what appears to be the end of the world, the children take fate into their own hands guided by the prophecies of a child’s bible. I deeply enjoyed Millet’s writing style, especially the mostly consistent use of “we” and “they” as the primary pronouns. Although the narrative is from one teen’s point of view, the use of the collective reframes the story as a community narrative. I will admit that for the me the narrative point about the irresponsibility of past generations was a bit heavy handed at points, but I still felt that there were enough surprises in the story that I remained engaged despite catching the theme very early on. I listened to the audiobook and was compelled to keep listening, but the style of the book was such that I expect I would have been absolutely riveted reading it as well. I strongly recommend this novel. 

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, and Blood

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

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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

lain_darko's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug use and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content and Ableism

skipabeat's review

dark emotional sad fast-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

5.0

Should be required reading in schools. Lydia Millet accomplished a work that fleshes out the details of a climate apocalypse in a way that is somehow realistic, full of symbolism, funny, and deeply depressing. Quick-paced and short read, and you won’t want to put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Blood

kallan's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Alcoholism

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Eating disorder, and Sexual content

internationalreads's review

adventurous dark funny sad tense medium-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

3.0

I loved the sarcasm and humor, but ultimately the biblical parallels were a little too heavy-handed for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

The “R” word is used to describe a character with a presumed intellectual disability in a very not-ok way

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

This was a fine story, but a lot of the allegories went right over my head. I think being more familiar with the Bible would make this a more interesting read. I did like that science wasn't disparaged for religion and the MC reminded me a lot of myself growing up. I don't have a lot of thoughts on this one, it was a good story but nothing really sticks out to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Violence

Child birth, death from child birth