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Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol, War
Minor: Medical trauma
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Lesbophobia, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Cannibalism
I'm confused, perplexed, slightly concerned, and unable to fully grasp my thoughts and define my feelings... all at once. In a good way...I think?
There are so many themes woven into this story tackling a multitude of important conversations. Yet, at its very core is a story about identity, responsibility, forgiveness, hope. Several characters who stand out for me, with certainly some favourites -- Arthur, Maggie, Graham. I don't know if the term 'precious' is appropriate in this instance but they are the highlight of my reading experience. 🤍
The genre of this book is a bit all over the place - science fiction but could also be a dystopian novel but it is also simultaneously heavily contemporary. It makes up for an interesting reading journey though.
・❥・ ❝ I’m smiling too.❞
・❥・ ❝ Oh? My ears aren’t quite as good as yours, I can’t hear it.❞
・❥・ ❝ I will endeavour to smile louder.❞
The last few pages are very memorable in my opinion; I decided to reread them and quickly glance through some passages I had highlighted throughout the book. The ending of this book summarises some core elements well.
A reflective one for sure! 🤍
Graphic: Death, Gun violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide attempt, War
Moderate: Racism, War
I was also bored throughout most of this, in a way that I feel that the book was falsely advertised. There's very little sci-fi to be seen in this with little regard to how the time travel works in this world, I didn't find it humorous enough to be considered comedic, the spy elements felt tacked on last minute and the romance simply did nothing for me.
I kinda wish that this book could have just focused more on the characters that are out of time. My favourite parts of the book were Graham, Arthur and Maggie hanging out and experiencing the 21st century together(I would also be totally down for reading a book solely focused on Maggie, love the idea of a lesbian from the 17th century being able to exist as herself in modern times).
I also found the narrator to be rather dislikable and I was rather irritated with how obtuse and manipulative she was to other characters and how she really doesn't experience much growth or consequences for her actions
I did find the exploration of her hertitage of being British-Cambodian and the child of a refugee interesting, but with how much this book tried to cover I would have prefered to have a whole book to focus solely on that. Also I must say the way the narrator and the plot treat Simellia, the only black character in the book, felt really off to me both in how the narrator dismisses Simellia's challenges with racism as one of the only black employees at the ministry and especially how it turns out
I especially wasn't fond of the romance between her and Graham Gore, there was a very apparent imbalance in the relationship where she felt rather controlling about him, almost trying to mold him into the type of person she would date that just put me off the idea of it. It made the ending where
There's also something about writing an explicit romance with an historical figure who died horribly that just gives me the ick. It comes off as in poor taste. I kept thinking throughout how I wish Graham could have been the main character instead, as the small chapters we see from his perspective are very introspective.
In all, this is a book that tries so many things and yet fails at being an engaging narrative.
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Murder, Lesbophobia
Minor: Genocide, Slavery, War
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Medical trauma
Minor: Xenophobia, War
I will say that I didn't see that plot twist coming, but the ending was messy and it got annoying that the narrator was feeling sorry for herself for so long 🤷♀️
Also didn't care for the chapters about Gore, so ended up skipping them every time, sorry not sorry!
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Deportation
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism
Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Slavery, Alcohol, War
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cannibalism, War