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adalinemccormick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse and Xenophobia
Minor: Physical abuse, Murder, Animal death, Gore, and Confinement
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Oh man oh man how I wish I picked up this book so much sooner! It's been sat on my shelf now for a good couple years, knowing I'd love it but never quite having the moment to grab it. I now really regret not doing so sooner, and will most certainly read the other books of his I own too as soon as I can!
Linus is stuck in life. He lives in a rainy city. He has a very strict job. The only things keeping him going are his cat and a motivational mouse pad depicting the sea with the saying "don't you wish you where here". Until one fateful day, Extremely Upper Management calls him for a meeting and ships him off to a remote island that no one knows about..
I absolutely adored this book. It's message about love and acceptance, while also learning to love yourself in the face of adversity. The characters where all so incredibly sweet and adorable, I just wanted to pick all of them up and give them a big hug <3
There's not too much plot, it's mainly just about the relationship between Linus and the residents of the island. A lot still happens however, there's trips to the village, adventures and more!I wouldn't really call it a romance though, while yes there is a romantic relationship, it doesn't feel like an absolutely major piece of the story, nor is it a main focus until essentially the very end. It's just a sweet additional story to the overall book.
The inspiration is being pointed out as being "problematic" but in all honesty.. I'm not sure those people have read the book. The book doesn't glorify or glamorise abusive residential "schools" or anything similar to that. In fact it's incredibly explicit about how abusive the system at its roots is. Arthur's home isn't a "if it's ran by someone good then it's ok" excuse. Arthur's home is a tale about strength together, found family and fighting injustice and abuse together. His home lies outside the system.
Additionally if you read the entire interview, the book was already pretty much done by the time he found out about Canadian residential schools so like. What are you all even on about lmao.
Last point, what are y'all on about that it sounds like the author is trying to be English lol. I'm from the UK and it sounded pretty American to me.
Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, and Hate crime
Minor: Homophobia
Fantasy bigotry (hatred from humans towards magical beings for being non-human), Gore descriptionsmags_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Animal death
pajamaliv's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Gore
ruthmoog's review
4.75
A real story feeling to this, and great for a non-scary Hallowe'en read.
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Gore
isaaah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Self harm
will0beatle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Gore
jfield351's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cursing, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Confinement
winters_night's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Panic attacks/disorders
prettycloud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Violence
the book has generally a light tone and does not dwell on painful events too long (it focuses more on institutional violence)—many of the characters have previously been through traumatic events and are healing, so though we hear about their traumas, we don't experience them in real time with the narrative. a lot of the minor content warnings are for graphic threats made by a disturbed child and do not reflect events in the book. if you can read "alice in wonderland," you can read this.