Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

17 reviews

nikereadsbooks's review against another edition

4.25

This is not my usual kind of book so I was surprised a bit by how much I enjoyed it. I loved how it was focused  on the characters, keeping the third point of view not only on George and Phil, but also adding other characters. Especially Phil's character was really interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Antisemitism

ribcager's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

“Deliver my soul from the sword,
My darling from the power of the dog.”

One of these days you’ll get yours aplenty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Racism, Suicide, and Antisemitism

farmpaws's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

The heartbreak and dread of this story prowl around you for this entire book, staring out at you through Thomas Savage’s incredibly vivid descriptions. I’ve never smelt sagebrush, or been anywhere close to Montana, but I felt like I was on every page of this story. I could sit down at the table in the Burbank’s enormous house, and feel the silence crawl down my spine. Every inch of this was vividly alive, each character, especially Phil, felt so alive. It was stunning. 

This book is a product of its time politics wise, but otherwise, I have no complaints. I only wish I could have lingered longer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, Racism, Blood, and Antisemitism

This book starts with castrating a bull calf, and contains fairly detailed descriptions of butchering animals for food.

gailcooksandreads's review against another edition

4.5

 4.5 stars rounded up for this gorgeously-written, hidden gem of a classic novel that I never would have discovered had I not been seeking out books set in Montana for a 50-states challenge. I'm really looking forward to watching the movie adaptation on Netflix as it is also supposed to be excellent. It got a bit draggy in parts, hence the 4.5, but wowzers, I was floored at how good it is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, and Suicide

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Murder

violetturtledove's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a great book, although for the most part i can't exactly say i enjoyed reading it. It's uncomfortable reading, the character of Phil is both intriguing and thoroughly hateable (in fact all of the characters are flawed and brilliantly observed). It's tense, and the narrative skips differently from one point of view or time to another (sometimes it goes from present to recollection, or jumps forward a month, without a clear indication in the text). This is a bit confusing, but also I think it keeps you hooked, wanting to know more.
Once you read the end you can suddenly look back at all the little hints and foreshadowing and then it hits you how clever the story really is

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Antisemitism

mia_merrill's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Suicide, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, and Grief

Minor: Murder

wendel's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Consider this dark study of characters was published in 1967: the devil is in the details. There’s a lot to explore for the curious reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism and Antisemitism

booksthatburn's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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

THE POWER OF THE DOG is about manhood and homophobia in the last gasps of the Old West, following a rich cattle rancher and his brother as one starts to have a life outside of their duo and the other tries to make him miserable enough to stay.

If you liked the 2021 film of the same name, adapted from this text, then you’ll probably like the book. The main changes are consolidations; placing some events as backstory instead of showing them as the book does, collapsing two side events into one, and to move Phil’s bigotry into fewer targets. The rest of this review contains minor spoilers, as it’s impossible to discuss what makes this so good without talking about some of what happens in it.

Phil is an odious person, a homophobic man who has based his hygiene and personal habits around as many opposites to his idea of a gay man in his era (clean, well-dressed, quiet, liking womanly things) that he possibly can. The end result is someone who bathes once a month (not at all in the winter), refuses to wear gloves (not even when castrating cattle and doing all the other bloody, messy work required to drive cattle and run a ranch), and uses his exceptionally sharp mind to whittle down the confidence of anyone who catches his ire (usually in language dripping with bigotry of whatever kind will sting the most). His closest relationship is with his brother George, a closeness which assumes George would never request distance and leaves Phil frustrated when George falls in love and marries a widow. He’s also enamored with his long-dead mentor in all things cowboy; Bronco Henry, talking up his wisdom and exploits to the ranch hands even two decades on from Bronco Henry’s death.

George meets and marries Rose, a widow whose husband killed himself early on in the book, years before the main story. Their son is strange, eventually assumed by Phil to be gay, called a sissy for his arrangements of paper flowers and way of dressing and walking. The boy’s quiet study of medical texts and dissections of animals hum along in the background, eventually he attends medical school with the help of his late father’s books. His actual sexuality is secondary to Phil’s perception of it, seeing the boy as weakness walking, the embodiment of everything Phil despises even as he eventually longs for connection again. 

Phil’s homophobia is one of a pile of bigotries which he wields like barbs when he’s irritated or inconvenienced. He most common method of addressing his brother is “Fatso”, and when Rose starts drinking in an attempt to stomach living in the same house as him, he belittles her for it, taking it as proof that she’s just taking advantage of his brother. His every action drips condemnation, that if someone has chosen to do what Phil would not, then they must be weak or scheming and their choice is contemptible. 

The audiobook narrator’s calm tone is perfect for this dryly delivered story which builds slowly, layers of time pooling to form the whole. The ending is quiet, managing to tie together everything in a single calm moment. It’s a resolution that feels like life, where one phase can unquestionably be over even as everything else continues on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Racism, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

larseneiii's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

felofhe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship