Reviews with content warning for Death - McGlue

Reviews tagging 'Death'

alexandrabelze's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

look, i love otessa moshfegh’s writing style, but i can’t looks past the recurrent use of slurs throughout the book. it would be different if they only appeared every once in a while, but there were times when there were 3+ slurs on a single page. and i didn’t fuck with that. i understand what she was trying to pull off with the narrator, but it was too extreme. i love a good unlikeable or unreliable narrator—if done right. mcglue was not done right. it could’ve been done right if it had been written as “gay pirates with internalized homophobia learn to love each other and themselves.” sadly, i would instead describe this as “the narrator drops the f slur and racist comments every ten sentences while pining for another man.” disappointment.

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espears's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I keep seeing stuff about McGlue being a pirate story?? It is not. McGlue is an alcoholic sailor, struggling to deal with himself and the reality of what happened between him and his best friend. TW: There are a lot of homophobic/racist slurs being flung around here. The prose is beautiful. The journey of self-loathing and reflection that McGlue experiences over the course of these pages felt visceral.

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jp_riemersma's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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siriface's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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kaymichelle's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

3.5

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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kclark's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

The first 40% of this book or so was extremely disorienting which makes sense given the plot of the novel. I appreciate a story that does something I don't expect, but I also see why people might bounce off of it, but I liked it.

The book deals a lot with memory and it's ephemeral nature of memory, constructions of masculinity and how that intersects with friendships and sexuality, and how class distorts how our culture views guilt and innocence, among much else.

The protagonist reminded me of other Moshveigh protagonists: lonely outsiders struggling to connect to society but this time in the mold of a drunken sailor. That sort of archetypical writing is understandable given this is Moshveigh's first published work.

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