Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

9 reviews

billyjepma's review

adventurous inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I’ve had this book on my shelf for years, and while I can’t say that it floored me—it doesn’t quite have enough depth to stick with you, I don’t think—it has such a heart of gold that I couldn’t help but be won over by the end. The tone is all over the place, admittedly, and the first half of the book is laid out in a way I found hard to get into. But once things came together around that halfway point, I was quickly and thoroughly swept up in the unique brand of whimsy, history, and commentary that Gidwitz’s tender storytelling has to offer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Antisemitism

Minor: Grief, Violence, Racism, Bullying, Animal death, and Death of parent

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexism

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, Islamophobia, Stalking, Ableism, Bullying, and Child death

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

An interesting retelling of people, events, and fables from the Middle Ages. I think it tried too hard to speak to adults and children. I might’ve been more amused by it as a child. I also didn’t enjoy the storytelling format.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Violence, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

common_household_mom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

 

A 2017 Newbery Honor Book, Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. 

Recommend.  To me, this was an extraordinary tale.  For a children’s book it includes deep philosophical and theological questions, and well-rounded characters.  Although I have never read Chaucer, the style seems modeled after Chaucerian tales of the Middle Ages.  The story is humorous, at times fantastical, and also quite violent, perhaps as a story taking place in 13th Century Europe must be.  Some children reading this might need to have adult guidance regarding the antisemitic and anti-Muslim thoughts expressed by some characters.  The king referenced in the first lines is Louis IX, who was 28 years old in 1242, the year this book takes place.  After his death in 1270 he was canonized as a saint.  Some of his behavior, as recorded by history and in this book, is decidedly less than saintly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Death, Gore, and Religious bigotry

lillygabriella's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

For someone who supposedly did six years of research and is married to an expert in Midæval history this book was appallingly inaccurate. The constant use of "ok" and "kids" and Cockney accents in 12th (supposedly) century France were extremely jarring. The issue of Jeanne not wearing a dress because it was "too complicated" and they didn't know how to start putting it on was infuriating. Midæval period ladies dress was among the easiest of fashion to put on. Shift, cotte, surcotte. They all pull on over the head. 

People perpetually drinking soup from "cracked" bowls to show how poor they are. You can't do that. The soup will leak out. Could have said chipped bowls.

The only historical things in here were some of the nobility and Notre Dame, and the book burning and he had them in the wrong century.
And he had the Queen Mother of France walking around with her hair uncovered like a prostitute.

The Inquisition was off by several centuries, and they weren't burning people for witchcraft until after that misogynist wrote Malus Malaficarum. In 12th century Christianity demons had no power on the earth and anyone who claimed magic was lying or deluded.  Miracles from god were fine.

The premise sounded promising, so I was extremely disappointed in the execution of this story.  He should stick to fantasy, as he appears not to do well with facts.

I only finished listening to this audio book out of spite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, Classism, Death, Gore, and Religious bigotry

antimony's review

adventurous funny

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

in 1242 france, the king is gearing up for war -- war against three children and their dog. jeanne is a peasant who has visions of the future, william is a monk with incredible strength, and jacob is a jewish boy who can heal any wound. and gwenforte is a greyhound who was resurrected :) and they are determined to save countless holy books from being burned.

this is told through multiple people telling the narrator the stories of these kids and it has the most wonderful margin illustrations i am so so so obsessed with these illustrations i could stare at them forever. i love illuminated manuscripts i love illustrated books and it works out perfectly. and i ADORE how gwenforte is draw shes so silly looking. she almost has borzoi vibes in some of the drawings (like the one at the end) and she is delightfully pointy. this book was mostly good but sometimes i was not so focused on it or connected to it unfortunately :( 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and War

katischr's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? No

5.0

Fairly dark for a kid's book, but features an amazing cast of characters, discussions about religion, race, and gender that are still relevant, and lots of miraculous fun! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Religious bigotry

abutler's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Antisemitism

Minor: Racism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Animal death, Gore, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Violence, and Xenophobia

magneto's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Bought this book on a whim from the cover when it came out and it moved to multiple homes across the years but always stayed unread on the shelf. I finally started reading through my physical TBR to purge books before my next move and got around to reading this. Glad it survived all the moves - was surprised by how much I liked this story considering I rarely enjoy medieval stories nor ones dealing with Christianity but thoroughly enjoyed this. The different narrators kept me intrigued and the characters were enjoyable. I even added some of the bibliography into my TBR afterwards.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism and Religious bigotry

Minor: Classism, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Death of parent