Reviews tagging 'Racism'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

16 reviews

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Racism

megelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this, having had it sitting on my shelves for ages and having heard so much about it over the years. It's a slow, dense read, and not at all an enjoyable one, but definitely a fascinating one overall. The ending also really surprised me, and it's definitely well-written and cleverly thought-out as a whole. The main thing that stopped me giving this a higher rating is that, while the protagonist is clearly deliberately unlikeable, there were times where it wasn't clear whether particular awful things were purely Eva or instead were reflective of the author's views. I also really struggled to see any real love or connection between Eva and her husband, which made that element of the story (and it's quite a big one) super hard to care about or link with everything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Genocide

owls_rainbow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Written in the form of letters from Eva to her husband Franklin, it was an odd writing style and tone of voice that took a while to get into but overall a compelling story.

It constantly annoyed me how clueless the husband was throughout Kevin's life. Intriguing twist near the end that I'll be honest I didn't see coming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia, Fatphobia, and Racism

madelinequinne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Well this certainly cemented the fact that I don’t ever want kids. Kevin continuously made me so angry throughout this novel, and the absolute heartbreak i felt at the end when we find out he murdered his little sister too, that just absolutely broke me. This is such a difficult book at times because of how awful the topic is, but overall I would just describe this book as sad. It’s incredibly well written, and this is the most emotion i’ve ever felt after reading a book to date, so brb, gonna go cry 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Eating disorder, Blood, Death of parent, Classism, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Racism

townmarshboy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Racism, Blood, Body shaming, Medical content, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cursing, Dementia, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

triangular_pascal's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Extremely uncomfortable to read -then again, perhaps that's the point, to confront that which makes us uneasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Murder, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Body horror, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Murder, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Bullying, Racism, Sexism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Body shaming, and Gaslighting

leherb's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny and Fatphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

daughterofaphrodite's review

1.25

I hated this. The narrator has virtually no redeeming qualities - she's foul, and obviously Kevin is awful. Just a miserable read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Mass/school shootings

ajlct's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

It's an excellent technical display of unlikeable characters and an unreliable narrator, but ultimately there was nothing redeeming about this book that made me glad to have read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Medical trauma, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Child death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

kstericker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, and Cursing

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Body shaming, Self harm, Sexism, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Body horror