Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Maus by Art Spiegelman

65 reviews

demetrius_bennett's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, War, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Racism, Antisemitism, and Confinement

Moderate: Excrement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Cursing

Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Car accident

thomasina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Violence, Death, Antisemitism, Deportation, Genocide, Racism, Murder, and Gun violence

dspickes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Antisemitism, Torture, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Deportation and Grief

Minor: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and War

aniblues's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Child death, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Racism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Death, Antisemitism, and Animal death

piperca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

I found myself having a difficult time with the father son relationship. Both Flawed and traumatized people for obvious reasons. Found myself wishing that the focus was more heavily focused on the fathers retelling of events rather than the fallout from a damaged person raising a child. I supposed illuminating the generational effects of trauma is important, but had a hard time resonating with or feeling much empathy for the son. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Racism, Child death, Classism, Genocide, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Confinement, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, Xenophobia, Excrement, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

_sophahs_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

This book is a masterpiece. The Holocaust is something no one would ever truly be able to put into words but Art does the best job anyone could. It’s real, emotional and educational. The art is great, the symbolism is powerful and it tackles a very difficult topic very well. This book should never ever be banned; it is one of the most important books ever written 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Death of parent, Suicide, Racial slurs, and Blood

Minor: Animal death

ninahuynh's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

3.5

Overall, interesting biography. I thought it was unique to use mice as the character avatar, and using other animals to depict the different nationalities. The story itself was slow to medium-paced, I would say, with pages filled with words. I understand that the author may have tried to depict the familial interactions as true to life as possible, but boy do I get annoyed by how Art treats his dad.

Also, the font of the text makes it difficult to discern some words throughout the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Hate crime, Death of parent, Suicide, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, War, Antisemitism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Genocide, and Gun violence

annabeth_jackson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Self harm, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, War, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Child death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Racism

ezra_tm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, War, Death, Torture, Gun violence, Self harm, and Racism

Moderate: Blood

oceanwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I didn't realize first going into this that this was a memoir. I guess from the cover I assumed it was a depiction of the Holocaust with a 'cat and mouse' metaphor. I realized as soon as I started reading that this wasn't fiction and it made the analogy all the more powerful.

Comic writer and illustrator Art Spiegel tells his father's WWII survival story in a series of two books (combined into one edition in this printing). Though not illustrations of humans, the imagery of the concentration camps (and what Jewish people went through in general) is as grim as you'd expect them to be. This isn't a watered-down narration that tried to spare the reader from the horrors. It's a raw and honest account.

The book is told brilliantly going back and forth between Art's conversations with his father as he relayed his story to that story unfolding on the pages. There are some abrupt starts and finished here and there, but it added to the tone of the book. There is still so much we don't know about what happened during the Holocaust that we may never learn.

In addition to being a book about the Holocaust (namely in Poland), it's also a book about the relationship between a father and son. Intergenerational trauma is a fascinating psychological phenomenon. This has often been seen among children with parents who have had traumatic experiences before their children were born. This along with the natural generational gap between parents and children makes up a lot of the subtext in Art and Vladek's story.

Perhaps it's needless to say that this book is going to stay with me for a long time. It's right up there with The Diary of a Young Girl and The Boy on the Wooden Box. The stories of these victims must be kept alive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Racism, Murder, Blood, Genocide, Violence, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Gun violence, Excrement, Confinement, and War

Moderate: Animal death