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lucindacreek's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Homophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Colonisation
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Classism
rachel1106's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Classism
All is brief, there is mention of entrails and the resources of dead animals(hides, meat). You have to remember that this is a ranch. It's not a violent novel, but there are character thoughts of one thinking they're superior in the 1920s as a white man. Mild racism and sexism in those thoughts. Nothing too harsh, more so eye rolling. Author expresses these character flaws in a way that makes the reader aware that the character is the character, and it doesn't feel like the author is self imposing those thoughts into his character for the sake ofnecpressing himself, but telling a stoyr of the flaws to his character in the fictional world. It's not triggering. Suicide is apparent in this book, though. That's the most substantial element I would worry about when recommending. It's short, but unexpected, and the death is mentioned various times as it undoubtedly scars some other characters.wendel's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism and Antisemitism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
felofhe's review against another edition
- 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
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
joshhornbeck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The characters are richly drawn and so much is given in the layered subtext of the novel. I love the way the film explores misogyny, deconstructs traditional masculine codes, and even looks at homosexual desire - and written in a time when that was rare to find in a Western. The way the novel jumps between point of view is also really compelling, giving us insights into characters other than the white menu at its center. The language and sentence structure throughout is a bit too convoluted for my tastes - phrasings and sentences are organized in ways that often get themselves List before they reach the end. But the characters themselves are richly drawn.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
prm97's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Antisemitism
unfeathered's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Death of parent