Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

145 reviews

jellyparfum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

ruthmoog's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

3.0

The book tells how the actions of a manipulative bad-actor ripple through the lives of others. I found the time perspective a little confusing, but I liked the motifs throughout the book (Popeye, love in Tokyo...) sometimes adding humour, other times more sinister.
I didn't enjoy it much, but before this book I had no idea about banana jam!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, and Classism

Moderate: Abandonment

ruthywithas's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

A mystery that is slowly unravelled through the eyes of small children. This was a tale of tragedy and generational trauma that was relatable yet upsetting at times. I felt seen through reading this book and so it felt eye opening. The perplexing beginning of the story held my curiosity and the relationships between the characters let me reflect on my own. Though, I wasn't a fan of the style of writing, the way Roy slowly revealed the truth kept me reading- resulting in an overall enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

thesupermassive's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

katievh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Incest and Sexual content

bookicornia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism

Minor: Incest

kora_gaupisch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

sir_ren's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

firstly as someone from the state and familiar with the culture- I have to laud the author for her observations and addition of details that feel incredibly authentic (for lack of a better term) and made the novel feel so probable and real. the meticulously written particulars all seem to stem from an intimate knowledge of the place and its people. I do not mean Kerala and Keralites but of Ayemenam and those characters.    

the novel has a rather simple story- the main plot. even though I could predict the general plot of the story (as the novel is written switching from the past and the present) it was still engaging and interesting thanks to the writing and the details. the construction of the novel-  the unfolding of events and use of language make it satisfying and rewarding to see it all come together. 

the "Kid Speak" used in the novel tends to be polarizing as far as I can tell. some people put the book down to never complete it due to the language. not that I am in a place to be telling anyone what to do with their time, but I would still seriously encourage readers to stick it out even if they are mildly irritated by the peculiarities. my experience is that I found it puzzling at first and then interesting, but the novelty wore off soon and it started to feel badly used. but this changed as I kept reading, the way Arundhati Roy built her novel and used language- the payoff was Real for me. the "quirkiness" of the language turned into a blessing as the novel went on. Intimacy is what I experienced again. in a novel all about this family- to speak their secret language and to have a few odd words and phrases evoke all the emotions and thoughts that they did was a moment of intimacy with the novel and its characters. 

another point of contention tends to be the "villain", who some find to be a cartoonishly evil/bad person. in my opinion, the character was believable. 

now for the parts I did not enjoy. the book describes or mentions a lot of the uglier sides of human nature/bodies/actions. I felt the number of instances was a little excessive. maybe one or two could have been cut and the book could still retain its integrity. 
and I felt the Kid Speak could have been cut in a few places. but I am glad the language was what it was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism

marisacarpico's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.25

Wasn’t connecting with this for most of it, but found the last 15 or so pages incredibly effective. I’ve not liked stream of consciousness for nearly 2 decades at this point and this didn’t change my mind. Lots of repetition here that didn’t work for me. Often found certain imagery effective the first time and rage-inducing 100x in. Probably deliberate on some level, but made this less of a stimulating read than I was hoping.

That said there are certain descriptions that were striking in their beauty or specificity. A description of a house as being like a sunken thing near the end especially made me pause. Mostly, though, the language is in service of a sort of grotesquery, a bluntness about life that’s as impossible to deny away from as what happens here.

I guessed the central family secret incorrectly (though it’s perhaps more accurate to say I placed it in the wrong part of the story), but the eventual reveal is such a powerful mix of both tragedy and cultural/historical specificity. And those last chapters are a big part of what give that central trauma and the surprisingly beautiful note. The books ends on its impact.

I will say, though I still don’t like stream of consciousness from moment to moment, I do think the structure here is astounding. Not just the way it ends, but the whole theater-going section, for instance, or they way things just build and build so that when everything is revealed, it all feels so inevitable, all of it flowing brilliantly from the characters and world Roy has shown us.

Truly, I did not enjoy the act of reading this book almost at all, but I certainly can’t deny the craft.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, and Murder

mxpringle's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail