Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

39 reviews

ventenne's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

mildly surprised i’ve taken so long to read a jewish-centric fiction book, but this one SLAPPED - i ADORE a revenge plot always and the delicious queer romance on the side was sooooo good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

ehmannky's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

This book was so lovely and beautifully written. I loved the setting, the angst around immigrant and sexuality identity, and the mystery and magical elements. Everything was so well done and beautiful. I don’t read much YA anymore, but I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

bluejayreads's review

3.75

I'm generally not interested in historical fiction or murder mysteries. However, I am interested in Jewish protagonists and characters getting possessed by ghosts, so I decided to give it a shot. And it was good. I read it in a single evening, which is impressive for a 500-page book, but honestly that says more about my mood that day than the book itself. Not that there was anything wrong with it - in fact, there was a lot that was good. The historical Chicago setting felt vivid, the characters were solid, the emotions were done well, the plot was strong, the romance developed well with a lovely touch of angst, and I loved the Jewish community and tradition that infused every page. But the possession element was much smaller than I expected (more a catalyst for the plot than a main element) and the primary plot was the murder mystery of tracking down Yakov's killer. Which, unfortunately, I wasn't all that into. Again, not a failing of the book, just a personal opinion, but mysteries in general aren't and have never been my thing. If you enjoy mysteries (and/or historical fiction), you'll probably like this a lot more than I did. Again, it's not bad, and there's a lot about it that's really good - it just didn't really appeal to my personal reading tastes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Antisemitism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Pogroms/massacres (mentions), starvation/hunger, unreality, drowning

mmefish's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious 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

4.5

I did not expect this book to turn out to be so well written, nuanced and intriguing. It touches on important topics, such as survivor guilt, generational trauma, grief, consent, being responsible for a sick relative, and more. I also appreciated the glossary at the end.

That's how life is. You're breathing, so you have to keep going, even when it doesn't feel like you're still alive.

They'll never welcome us into their whole cities, because ambition becomes something ugly when it has a Jewish face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Pedophilia, and Rape

emily_mh's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This was such a great read! The MC Alter was so dynamic, because as well as having to deal with possession and finding a serial killer, he has a rich inner world as the narrator. He’s trying to earn the money to bring his family over to the US from Romania, he is haunted by internalised homophobia and he is living in poverty in an antisemitic world and responding to that situation in his own way. His perspective really exposed the facade of the American Dream. 

Alter’s romance with Frankie was great. I love when an author writes an romance where the MC is oblivious to how much the LI is into them but the reader can clearly see it, and the romantic subplot here is exactly that. Because Alter and Frankie had already been through so much together before the events of this book, their connection was believable and their chemistry was good. I like how balanced their relationship was, with Frankie helping Alter with his mission, and Alter helping Frankie through his grief and trauma. 

It’s hard to comment on the predictability of the mystery as I am older than the target audience, but I found it to be engaging. I also don’t believe that the point of the mystery here was to be elusive and hard to solve, but to compound the social themes Polydoros was exploring. And boy did he EXPLORE. The narrative looks at the intersection of classism and antisemitism in the experiences of Alter, showing how doubly vulnerable it makes poor Jewish people to exploitation and violence. It displays the dissonance between having a grand international exhibition while people are living in poverty; the ludicrousness of the existence of the mega-wealthy when there are those with nothing. What is truly sickening is that these same issues and oppressions characterise today’s society too, like Polydoros was holding up a mirror to the present. I appreciated him foregrounding these issues for that reason, and also because it gives a more realistic depiction of Chicago and the US in general in 1893. 

Another fantastic element in this book was the atmosphere the author created. He conveyed the darkness and grit of Victorian Chicago effortlessly: the senseless violence and exploitation and the constant presence of danger. It was completely immersive and, like the mystery, engaging, so that even in slower-paced moments the book didn’t feel like it dragged at all, despite its 450+ pages. 

Rep: gay Jewish MC, gay Jewish LI, Jewish SCs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Drug use, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Major: five uses of the antisemitic k-slur Moderate: missing loved one, separation from family, illness, theft, internalised homophobia Minor: drowning, fainting, gambling, blackmail, divorce, police corruption, imprisonment, capital punishment, gentrification

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

H.H. Holmes/White City + dybbuk + queer Jewish immigrants + anarchist + right up my alley! Gorier than I usually go for but well worth handling the "ick factor."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming

toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Loved this book! Its definitely not "feel good" in the cozy and soft sense but it made me really happy to have so many Jewish and Yiddish references. The mystery was also very compelling, and I loved the development of

Frankie and Alter's relationship

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Homophobia

This book deals heavily with antisemitism and revolves around a serial killer who targets Jewish boys and men. There is also heavily implied pedophilia and assault/rape of minors. Lots of violence and murder and the main character often mildly self harms to ground himself. While possessed by the dybbuk of his murdered friend, he also experiences visions and flashbacks

latwell07's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cultural appropriation

spookily's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Misogyny, Suicide, Excrement, and Police brutality

novella42's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail