Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

5 reviews

miller8d's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Changed my relationship to books and reading. One of the best books I have ever read. I highlighted so many passages that the Kindle highlight collection was literally 26 pages long.

Cried several times both out of happiness and sadness. Beautifully captures the actual sensations of love and loss and grief, and the gorgeous nature of children and animals and family, queer love and neurodivergent pain, and so much more. Refreshing poetry and ridiculously beautiful world-building in such intricate historical contexts. Addressed so many different issues and experiences with such flair and emotion. Delivers anarchist / anti-establishment / leftist values from the optimistic perspective that to be human is to be a part of the problem, and yet, we must love one another and love the Earth in order to power through the pain of life in order to radically experience the love, because that’s why we are here.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexism, Abandonment, War, Slavery, Gun violence, Colonisation, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Racial slurs, Bullying, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

I am very sensitive and I LOVED this book and found it deeply emotionally uplifting despite these very severe content warnings

kristinj1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? No

5.0

Honestly, I am not exactly sure how to review this book. It's incredibly intricate, incredibly well written with a very strong eye toward character development. It's a really unique construction of a story, I think that the premise of the book itself is very fascinating. I definitely felt a strong connection to the story, which is actually pretty interesting because I don't think I can say that I had a strong connection to any of the characters. Not that they were written poorly or they were unbelievable, I just had the chance to move between them so often in service of the larger story. I also still really wish there had been more of a fine point on the ending, like what actually is happening on earth? Especially the story with the spaceship.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Blood, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Animal death, Classism, and Death of parent

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Bullying, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Excrement and Rape

jacstomski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

Trying to do too many things, this just didn’t do it for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape

evanmcomer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

This is a book that is hard to classify. Is it literary fiction? Historical fiction? Science fiction? All three? Regardless of what you call it, the characters are richly written, and the three stories are each compelling in their own right. This is a 600 page book that, at times, reads like a thriller. About two-thirds of the way through, I learned something that made me want to cry. And at the end, I found myself wanting to hug this book and read it again. The central theme is so brilliantly summed up by this line: “The world as it is is enough.” This is probably the easiest five-star review I’ve given all year. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, and War