Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

20 reviews

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.

---

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

---

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

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

 

---

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

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

---

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

---

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

leahkarge's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jessthepiratess's review

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

4.5

Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Genocide, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Police brutality

ezwolf's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

The City Beautiful follows Alter, a young Jewish man working to try and bring his mother and sisters to America when his close friend is murdered and Alter is thrown into solving the mystery of who murdered Yakov as well as other Jewish young men. 

One of the things I think this book does so well is mix real historical settings along with Jewish mythology. It also delves into (one of) the ways death is treated in Jewish culture. The antisemitism that Alter experiences and danger of being visibly Jewish is something that can be related to even now.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for queer Jewish representation!

Also I greatly appreciate that Aden Polydoros posts content warnings on his website for each of his books. I've copied a link to the ones specifically for this book below. 

https://adenpolydoros.com/the-city-beautiful

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

jonathaneden's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol

lanid's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Antisemitism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury