Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Promise by Damon Galgut

28 reviews

kajasversion's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Truly a masterfully written story, the narrative transitioned from one character to another seamlessly and it was amazing to witness. The characters are all flawed, the burden of family and societal values destroying their relationships. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence and Racism

Minor: Eating disorder

james1star's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent, Infertility, Suicide, Eating disorder, Murder, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Alcoholism

luise96's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, and Death

ginnydw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

julia_rose's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The most 5 star book I’ve ever 5-starred. This is a very special book. Exquisite prose without being pretentious. Complex characters you love and hate (except Amor and Salome who are angels) who evolve masterfully. Extremely visual, it’s rare that a book transports me to another world. Emotional but not corny and still has the odd light-hearted moment which is hard to inject into such a dark story.

I appreciated how Lukas still scolded Amor at the end so it didn’t become just another “white saviour book.

Seamlessly floated between all the characters’ heads, expert narration. Just beautiful. A beautiful beautiful book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gun violence, Infertility, Death, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism

karol99's review

dark emotional funny informative mysterious 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, Suicide, Sexism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Colonisation

manonh90's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

I... didn't like this book. The writing style (jumping between perspectives even within sentences, the lack of quotation marks... ) really annoyed me and the story wasn't my cup of tea either: small-minded, unlikable people I couldn't care less about, who somehow reflect historical societal issues. Would have DNF'ed if I hadn't been reading it for book club. I'm also beginning to realise capital L-literary fiction might not be for me, not the Booker Prize winners in any case. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, War, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Dementia, Eating disorder, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm and Sexual content

m4rtt4's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

The writing was excellent; very compelling and beautiful, though it also felt pretentious at times and kept the characters at a distance. Going into the book I expected to like it a lot more than I actually ended up doing, as the premise sounded very interesting but the book ended up being very little about 'the promise' that even its name suggests. Social justice and diverse perspectives were what I expected, but instead I got rather boring relationships and white guilt and no actual action for anything. I really wanted to immerse myself in the story, and even though the sentences were beautiful, they did not manage to evoke anything in me and it was hard to concentrate on something that felt like it was purposefully keeping me away. The writing surely deserves the Booker price, but the story itself fell quite flat.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

mel_s_bookshelf's review

dark reflective slow-paced

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

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

heather077's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Classism and Eating disorder