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rebeccabass25's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Violence and Gun violence
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
Minor: Torture
deedireads's review
- 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
4.5
What a genre-mashup delight this book was! Part antihero western, part dual-timeline family saga, with a sprinkling of magical realism (including a very mysterious book), The Bullet Swallower has something for everyone.
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro’s train robbery goes wrong, which sets him off on a revenge tour through Texas. Meanwhile, in Mexico City in 1964, his movie-star grandson Jaime finds himself in possession of a mysterious book and with a mysterious visitor. This was inspired by the author’s family history and lore (definitely read the author’s note!), and it made for a pretty unputdownable story. I gobbled it up.
So yes, there is a lot going on here, but it never actually feels that way. Elizabeth Gonzalez James combines elements perfectly and leaves readers thinking deeply about the legacy of a family history, who is responsible for the sins of our fathers, and our generational “curse.”
The audiobook was also very well done! I switched back and forth between print and audio and sometimes listened while I read, and I found the story ultra-consumable in any format. Lee Osorio (who also performed parts of Chain-Gang All-Stars and many other books) was excellent.
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Body horror and Animal death
tak_everlasting's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i knocked a star off because i found the characterization of women in this to be very stilted. it's not a first person point of view either, so i found it a bit strange that we are meant to sympathize fully with a man who, by his own repeated admission, drinks, has sex with other people, regularly abandons his wife and family, and refuses to devote himself to the job he has chosen (farming) because he finds it boring.
meanwhile, his wife works the land they have, stays home with his kids, and accepts him whenever he shows up for a few days in between his adventures. see accepts him back every time, after a brief fight over where he's been, because she is a Good Wife who doesn't exist outside of her relevance to her husband. he doesn't even consider the unfairness of this himself
and yes, i understand that this is par for the course in westerns, but that doesn't make it less exhausting. i'm not asking for anything extreme, like her becoming a bandit herself, just that she be allowed to have a breaking point, some limit to her saintly forgiveness.
this pattern of characters that exist to fill a role that they cannot escape from is repeated in other characters, which makes anyone besides the leads rather uncompelling. they must serve the main character, at the expense of their own existence.
which isn't entirely a bad thing, and does in some ways lend to a nuanced reading of the book. it's also tied to the magical realism of it all. but if, like me, you read because you enjoy connecting to the characters, you're pretty much out of luck.
Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Torture, and Death
gabi_tron's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Body horror, Violence, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Racism, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Blood
laurenexploresbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Racism
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Colonisation, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Hate crime, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Rape, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, and Child abuse
itshrewsbury's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Torture
Moderate: Animal death and Suicide
Minor: Drug use and Child death
seasonedreadings's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Torture
Minor: Child death
ginabelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Violence, Colonisation, Hate crime, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Gore, Grief, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Child death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture
lvleggett's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Torture, Xenophobia, Violence, Islamophobia, Death, Murder, Grief, Racism, and Gun violence