Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

4 reviews

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy shit. This is the best book I've... ever? read. I ugly cried at the end. So beautiful, so heartwrenching, so powerful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Torture, Mental illness, War, Ableism, Animal death, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Death, and Racial slurs

rebeccarudisill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Epic, sprawling, and mysterious this book highlights everything that is good about books. And about people. Hold onto your pants because this is a wild ride.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Blood, Animal death, and War

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide

leahrosiee's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a story about amazement, literacy, time, and memory. Five characters show how stories are passed along through time. How a book, in their case the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land, can hold someone together through all the shit life is putting them through and connect them to people they will never know across the world and throughout time. 
Each character has so much in common despite such vastly different circumstances. 

I found myself more drawn to certain storylines than others, which made it a little slow. Anthony Doerr really said “I could go into heavy detail, and I will, I will go into heavy detail”. I cannot tell you how many pages were dedicated to two of the characters waiting for a war to begin. 
Despite that, there is no denying how expertly the author weaves stories together and what an incredible book this is. 
So …. I don’t know what to think. But I think I love it. 

Side note: if you aren’t already outraged by how little our society values librarians, this book will help solidify that for you, I promise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Slavery, War, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Murder

steffisbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is the best book I’ve ever read! I’m not joking. I read a lot and I can confidently say that this is a book for people who love books. NEVER BEFORE have I been so drawn in and impressed by characters. Doerr expertly weaves all three stories together flawlessly. This book is a commentary on the importance of literature as a whole. I’m sad that I can’t rate this book higher. Please please please read this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Violence