Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

7 reviews

hendrixpants's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Violence, and Death

bootrat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

2.5

Neither the world building (that criminals have animals) nor the mystery element (the missing person) gripped me. I also didn't love any of the characters. Mostly it just let me down (didn't live up to the interesting premise the blurb promises), and I found it a little boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Animal cruelty, Death, Violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide

jackiepreston's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Gore, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Classism, Alcoholism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Transphobia, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Slavery, Rape, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

chaotically_katie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Never met a book with more water potential than this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcohol, Body shaming, Racism, Death, Vomit, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Toxic relationship

provo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Drug abuse, Death, Mental illness, and Classism

jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Beukes’ creation and depiction of her dystopian, alternative reality – a world where criminals magically gain an unshakeable animal companion and a supernatural ability due as a manifestation of guilt for their individual crimes, usually murders or death related – is easily what I loved most about this novel. Beukes’ ability to describe the setting and every character in a way that makes envisioning the story easy (a significant achievement in a dystopian fantasy narrative) and to weave the world-building aspects seamlessly into the storyline with no jarring, no slowing of the fast pace or eerie atmosphere made it a great dystopian read. I especially enjoyed the sections of the novel with newspaper clippings and other forms of media as a different way of introducing the reader to the history of this alternative reality. Beukes’ tough, sarcastic, and scarred narrator, Zinzi, is easily my favourite character with her dark sense of humour and the fact that she’s a morally grey protagonist at best made the narrative that much better. The novel also touches on many important themes and can be interpreted as an allegory for some parts of the world, which only added to my enjoyment of the novel. 

While I loved the plot during the first half or so of the novel, near the end I found the storyline and the direction it was heading in to be quite strange (although I wasn’t sure how I would’ve liked the narrative to go) so I started to lose interest and didn’t really enjoy the ending as much as it’s beginning. One of the things that bothered me a little about the plot is to do with Zinzi’s past and how she gains her sloth.

We find out quite quickly that she has somehow caused the death of her brother and while her background makes sense, what was a little annoying is that it never really gets explained what actually happened and it kind of felt as though there was much more to this particular memory which we don’t get to find out.

The few loose ends that the novel has, though, means that there’s a possibility that there is more to discover about the world inside Zoo City. 

 For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/ 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Animal death, Cursing, and Gore