Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Promise by Damon Galgut

12 reviews

loveyourlibraries's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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

I found the book overly depressing with no likeable characters. It was described as “moving fluidly between characters” but I found this technique confusing. One sentence would be describing the thoughts of one character and then the next sentence is another character’s thoughts without anything to let the reader know it had happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, and Incest

Minor: Eating disorder and Infertility

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

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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. 

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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

hgallagher's review

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide, Racism, Murder, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Alcoholism

Minor: Chronic illness

thebowandthebook's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Very interesting read, it hopped around a good bit. Writing style was different then my normal reads but enjoyed it. Bit crude,unfiltered examination of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Death of parent, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Racism, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, and Infertility

ukponge's review

challenging sad

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Police brutality

candournat's review

reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

Liked it but didn’t love it.

It’s beautifully written and full of metaphor but there was just something missing for me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, War, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicide, and Alcoholism

sib_reads's review

dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gun violence, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Minor: Dementia, Self harm, and Sexual content

victoria_catherine_shaw's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Racism

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

The ideas were much better than the execution. The first chapter, a quarter of the book, was barely readable, the second was brilliant, the other two were fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, Eating disorder, Dementia, Death of parent, Confinement, Cancer, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, and Alcohol