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cloud_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Rape, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Murder, Vomit, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug use, and Kidnapping
Minor: Pregnancy
smallredboy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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? No
5.0
This is one of those novels that as soon as you finish reading them you will know they will stick with you for a long, long time. I don't even know how to say anything that I want to say. But incredible book. Read it.
Edit a few days after this fact: This is a complex book. It's very much Jewish, even when it deals largely with Jesuits, as it gives you a thousand questions about God (including the good ol' "if God exists, why do horrible things happen?" question) but provides exactly zero answers (maybe half an answer), which is very much a Jewish thing to do. The characters are alive, almost too alive, enough for the foregone conclusion to hurt even before it happens. The way it deals with trauma (mental, physical and sexual) is realistic and cathartic, believable; I feel for Emilio deeply. While I don't know much about science, most of it felt pretty realistic, and I absolutely adored the focus on anthropology and linguistics, as that I understand some more of. The non-linear narrative makes it better, in my opinion; the sinking dread having an understanding of what's going to happen while hope is still high in the air is incredible.
It's a very heavy book, with a thousand trigger warnings to be given. But if you can read it, I really do recommend it.
Edit a few days after this fact: This is a complex book. It's very much Jewish, even when it deals largely with Jesuits, as it gives you a thousand questions about God (including the good ol' "if God exists, why do horrible things happen?" question) but provides exactly zero answers (maybe half an answer), which is very much a Jewish thing to do. The characters are alive, almost too alive, enough for the foregone conclusion to hurt even before it happens. The way it deals with trauma (mental, physical and sexual) is realistic and cathartic, believable; I feel for Emilio deeply. While I don't know much about science, most of it felt pretty realistic, and I absolutely adored the focus on anthropology and linguistics, as that I understand some more of. The non-linear narrative makes it better, in my opinion; the sinking dread having an understanding of what's going to happen while hope is still high in the air is incredible.
It's a very heavy book, with a thousand trigger warnings to be given. But if you can read it, I really do recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: War
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