Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

5 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

As a fan of Caleb Carr, I was floored to see a recent interview where he announced he had terminal cancer. He was describing his newest book, My Beloved Monster, a memoir of his life with a semi-feral cat which also addressed his abusive childhood. Because I loved both cats and Carr, I had to read that book. 

I finished the memoir a few days ago and immediately started The Alienist. When I first read it, Google didn’t exist and I knew nothing of Carr’s history. Reading it now was a very different experience than in 1994. I understood Carr’s references and had images of old New York at my fingertips, able to see High Bridge Tower, Croton Reservoir, and other landmarks. 

I could see Carr’s childhood everywhere in the book. His knowledge about alcoholic and abusive parents clearly comes from experience. That and his study of New York City give a vivid feel to the whole book, despite its taking place a century earlier than when written. 

The Alienist is a page-turner but it’s not for the faint of heart looking for a beach read. It addresses class and wealth and education, power and corruption, mental illness and the care of the mentally ill, the desperation that drives children into prostitution, and the violence that results from continued abuse and bullying. It’s a beautifully written story about a terrible time when terrible things happened all too frequently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Mental illness, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Pedophilia, Torture, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Homophobia, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Child death, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual violence, and Bullying

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Animal death, Gore, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Pedophilia, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Child death

Moderate: Excrement, Cannibalism, Police brutality, and Antisemitism

raginsagein's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use, Antisemitism, Deadnaming, Classism, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

bxnnny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.0

a fairly slow-paced and dense read, but kept me interested throughout. felt like an 1800s version of mindhunter. i found the main character to be one of the least likeable characters (besides the obvious criminals/bad guys) as he often came across as whiny and narrow-minded and i grew tired of his constant need of approval and inclusion by the others. there were also some weird undertones of homophobia and perhaps even transphobia and just general bigotry mainly from him that i didn't enjoy either. i suppose one could argue that "times were different then," but i still wasn't a fan. the writing could often times be pretty dense and over-explanatory, but i become used to the writing style as the story progressed and i ultimately was interested enough in the plot to keep reading. i didn't expect teddy roosevelt to be a character at all, much less play a fairly prominent role, and the book at times just felt like a weird teddy roosevelt fan fiction. which, i guess it could actually be considered one...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement

Moderate: Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Minor: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 These were very dense 500 pages but worth it.
You definitely need at least some interest in the following, though: New York City (preferably it's history) and CSI/Criminal Minds (crime scene investigations and criminal profiling). Because there is a lot and I mean A LOT of words dedicated to these topics. Which means I loved it.

The story takes place in 1896 New York City and is a about an alienist (duh) trying to catch a serial killer. But it's not really a who done it, it focuses more on the psychological factor of such a crime, on the obsacles during that time to pursue such a goal and on all the methods of forensic science and criminal profiling that we take for granted now but that didn't really exist back then or were just being discovered.

I needed some time to get into the writing style and setting but once I was used to it, I really enjoyed it. To discover one of my favourite cities in such a historical setting was really cool and I appreciated how much time Carr spend on describing it in such a detailed and intimate way. (I wasn't that much interested in the political aspects though.)
The whole investigation process was amazing. Yes, it was very detailed and slow paced sometimes but... I didn't know that a whole chapter about the analysis of one letter could be this exciting. And discovering all those details with the protagonists little by little was absolutely rewarding.
Fell in love with the protagonists very quickly btw. The way they interacted with each other was just beautiful.

But... there are some things that bothered me, although most be attributed to the time the book was placed in. Sooo few women for example (although a very very cool one among the protagonists). And the way mentally ill people, queer people, sex worker were talked about even by some of the progressive protagonists (although one aspect of the book is to accept/respect these margialised groups more). I'm conflicted. Some deaths and the purpose they had make me angry. And this has nothing to do with the time period, this I just didn't like.

But as a whole I was really impressed by the book and how smart the plot was. And the author's note in my edition was hilatious. The story with the fake photo is my new fav thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit