Reviews tagging 'Rape'

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

40 reviews

mscalls's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, and War

stephyrm's review

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Vomit

tamschmi's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

I truly wish I was reading this with a class or a group. There are such intricate layers of texts from hundreds of years and I can’t even imagine how many references I missed. A true fever dream. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

naturalog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny, Vomit, and Cannibalism

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a very strange book. I think it accomplished what the author wanted it to, and I think I liked it. I certainly looked at the world through a slightly shifted lens for a few hours.

You Dreamed of Empires is experimental historical fiction that reads like fantasy. I mean that in a complimentary way.

I will probably revisit it at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Incest, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

auudrey's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Rape

Minor: Vomit

sruff's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

sabrinahughes's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

violinknitter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is not the kind of book I typically read. But somewhere on social media someone complained about a racist review of it in the New York Times, and then recommended a review by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in the LA Times instead. 

Moreno-Garcia I *do* read, and her review convinced me to try this book. And I’m glad I did! It has a moody and almost pointilistic in texture, and I found the characters fascinating. Not likeable, but that wasn’t the intention.   

It took me a bit to get used to the complete absence of any dialogue punctuation, and the sff muscle-memory of being dumped into a world where many of the names & words are unfamiliar served me well. (While I was wondering to myself “why AM I so unfamiliar with so much of this? I’m a lover of history, and it’s literally the country next to mine!”)

Anyway, I think it was well worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, and Colonisation

lorenipsum's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Vomit, Colonisation, and War