Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

4 reviews

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This novel is more rooted in reality than the others I read by Vandermeer and arguably is scarier due to that. So much in this book is things that are happening or can easily happen in our world in a few years and that is really unsettling. This is really a crime noir book with the crime being the disctruction of the environment.
The main character in the beginning gave me the vibes of a headmistress teaching a valuable lesson. and then she slowly becomes more frantic and personal and it is harder to follow, harder to distiguish where the 'now' ends and her retelling of past stories starts. it really grips you and makes you keep reading. Her childhood trauma and family trouble work really well with the noir feeling and also explain why she would follow this path. Her slow descend into some kind of madness (or maybe just clarity of mind) is so well-written.
I always felt a bit lost and a few steps behind everyone while reading, but so was the main character often times, and it really improved the noir reading experience.
I also learned a lot about humingbirds and salamanders in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Torture, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

scytheria's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Abandonment, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Police brutality, Ableism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, and War

crowcore's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.5

I finished this book on a train ride from California to Washington-- a hurricane was hitting southern California and everywhere north of there was on fire, all the way up to Canada. The smoke was so thick at some points on the track that the only thing we could see out of the windows were the powerlines, and some parts of the track were too hot to go at top speed safely so we spent an extra few hours breathing in smoke.
So the book felt a little on the nose 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexism, Stalking, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Misogyny

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Deportation, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical content, Torture, and Genocide