Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

39 reviews

isacarvalho91's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-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: Antisemitism, Xenophobia, War, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Slavery, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Bullying, and Rape

kim_lommaert's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Racism, War, Death, Murder, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Violence, Infertility, and Rape

medini_l's review against another edition

informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, and Bullying

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It's semi slow but the world building is worth it. I really felt like I was there, living in the world with the characters. It beautiful, sad, hopeful and tragic all at once. Definitely check it out before the show comes out! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Genocide, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and War

omniscienttaco's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I liked the prose in this book, but man was it a long read (or listen, it’s a 15 hour long audiobook, and I had to wait for it to become available again though my library). I can’t justify giving this a 5 star rating due to some decisions on how to portray the war. It’s a little too… baby-proofed? It reads like it was intended to be included in a middle school English class, but this book is long. 

I enjoyed the plot progression, and the jumping around in timelines was never confusing for me. The writing was lovely, but it was also drawn out enough that I could leave my phone blaring the audiobook in another room and come back, not feeling like I had missed anything crucial. 

While this book tried to humanize every character, to show that war is horrible for everyone….. I don’t think it did enough to show how horrible Nazis were, how passionate for their political views, how violent and angry young men can be. I dont feel like this book was intentionally sanitized, just be aware that there is some suspension of disbelief involved for everything to come together towards the end. I’m personally okay with some of that, I still overall liked the book. However, I didn’t come away from this book feeling like it blew my mind or anything. Just felt like a well written average fictional WWII story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Genocide, and Antisemitism

marlieraines's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Xenophobia and Sexual assault

grommit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Emotional and brilliant

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, War, and Rape

Minor: Racism, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

Another book club read, and I'm glad I was put onto this one, as I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with it. This is a beautifully woven tale of .. uhm, nerds in World War II.

Werner is a snow-haired German lad who was orphanned by the mines of the Reich. As a curious child he develops himself into an electrical engineer who specializes in fixing radios, and is noticed by a German general who forwards him for advancement in an elite military school.
Marie-Laure is the daughter of keymaster of the French museum. She develops cataracts and goes blind as a child, and her father crates a scale model of her neighbourhood as a tactile map for her to learn her way around.
When the war starts, Marie-Laure and her father flee to her uncle's house, and Werner is a radio engineer for Hitler's army.

This story is told with deep emotional resonance, and using all sorts of literary quirks that focus on themes of light and darkness, sounds, sensation, fear and bravery, morality, logic and puzzles, knowing and learning, art and music, the love of nature, and of people. I love the descriptions of things like disappearing in fog– that it's about vanishing into whiteness rather than shadows.  The descriptions are visceral and evocative as well as clever.

This is a story of survival, of war, of fear and bloodshed, and it doesn't pull its punches. It certainly answers, in a humane way, questions about how people can do inhuman things in war, and the toll it can take on families.

I found the going slow, and occasionally tense, but also full of whimsy and beauty in contrast.
Well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Grief, War, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Excrement, Death, Child death, Blood, Antisemitism, Vomit, Torture, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Cancer, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Confinement, Chronic illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Classism, and Bullying

lwelch94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Violence, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Hate crime, Genocide, Ableism, Xenophobia, War, Antisemitism, Bullying, Rape, Mental illness, Confinement, and Death

katerinakr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful sad slow-paced

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

I liked the plot wrapping -- one of the best I've read in ages.

The key part, though, is just annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Hate crime, Bullying, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Medical trauma, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, and Genocide