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stevia333k's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I came into this book wondering how to deal with a civil war situation & I came out wanting to get a good cry in about the social constructs of family. (Looking back I actually had a similar reaction with THG #1) I came to this book to cry, yet that topic shift startled me. While the plot does rely on certain technologies that don't exactly map onto our world it still has helpful info & strategies. For example the laying low & collecting info etc was inspiring & helpful in affirming lessons I had gotten.
I've also learned the teacher praxis was emphasized again. While I often hear this in reference to the GPCR & MLM (including Peru) it seems that Maoism's arena can be more generally described as "civil warfare" & political terror against people's war.
As a white disabled queer muslima feminist, this shit hits hard, especially considering that the 10 generations of enslaved people who were mentioned had muslims when they were kidnapped. Like holy shit this book touched on a mood. I read about half this book on a Friday, but it took nearly 2 weeks to read the first half. I've been busy but still.
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Trafficking
Moderate: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
siri_paulson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Slavery, Physical abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Confinement
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Rape, Murder, Hate crime, Death, and Child abuse
Minor: Pregnancy and Pedophilia
rlgreen91's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's hard to review this book - it feels like the only way to truly do it justice would be a review that's more of an early draft of an academic research paper. Butler's novels tend to be like that, in my experience, but this is the book that seems to exemplify this phenomenon the most.
If I had to pick one aspect of the book to reflect on, it would be the many mistakes that Lauren made due to her youth. You start to see this a bit in Parable of the Sower, but the fact that Lauren's most formative experiences as a child and young adult occurred during such a chaotic time has an impact on the decisions she makes as things gets "better." On the one hand, she does display a maturity beyond what you might expect from a woman her age, simply because of how harsh her world was, and how it forced all children to grow up quickly if they wanted to survive. At the same time, we see that as the world slides back from the extremely harsh conditions to a more "normal" mode of society, Lauren is often ignorant of how people, organizations, and institutions will react and how social and cultural norms will change in response. So throughout the novel, we see Lauren make mistakes because she's unaware of how people and society will operate during "normal" times, beyond the mistakes you typically see young adults make as they start to make their way in the world. In some ways, Lauren is able to recover from those mistakes, but regardless, they do have far-reaching, unpredictable consequences in some cases. As readers, this should prompt us to question our common view of how leaders being "forged in the fire" during a crisis is always seen as a positive view of their work.
Again, there is a lot of thought-provoking content in this novel. A review can't do it justice - honestly, multiple dissertations probably couldn't do it justice. What a wonderful gift Butler has left us with. 5 stars.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Slavery
apollos_books's review
- 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
5.0
this book as all the content warnings though. like literally. read with care and caution
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Incest, Gore, Kidnapping, and Murder
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Torture, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Rape
Moderate: Suicide and Pregnancy
alisonvh's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Medical content, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual violence
alomie's review
- 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
3.5
I found the start of the book slow, and the middle glacial and uncomfortable the end was good, this is where it really picked up for me but I think this was only because at least something vaguely positive was happening.
It was bleak, and it was slow, and for me it was quite hard to wade through the book. It was pretty harsh to read and I was finding it hard to pick up.
I am glad the characters got a happier ending.
Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death, Classism, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Murder, Death of parent, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexism
jojo_'s review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Homophobia, Racism, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Classism, Grief, Ableism, Death of parent, Rape, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Infidelity, and Pedophilia
Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship
toffishay's review
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Slavery, and Racism
ruthlessreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, and Child abuse
Moderate: War, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy