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Reviews tagging 'Death'
Death in Venice by Michael Cunningham, Michael Henry Heim, Thomas Mann
12 reviews
tommy_g's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pedophilia and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Medical content, Chronic illness, Bullying, Death, and Mental illness
lauraetlabora's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Death
mattgroot1980's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The content of the story is pretty disturbing by 21st c standards, but as
Literature is this brilliant. Reader, know thyself.
Literature is this brilliant. Reader, know thyself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Stalking
miss_ilsa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
This short story is so beautifully written and very nuanced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
maess's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Terminal illness
christinewonder's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
A book I would love to forget. The rating is for the cover only.
A lonely and old man travels from Munich to Venice to feel alive again. There he falls in love with a twelve year old, blond haired, blue eyed, Polish boy. His whole trip consists of stalking this boy and his family at the beach, in the hotel, in the restaurants. His mind is only fantasizing about his “angel”. Is it disturbing just to me?
In the end he dies due to eating strawberries that were infected with cholera.
No dialogue, no action, a bland yet unsettling book.
A lonely and old man travels from Munich to Venice to feel alive again. There he falls in love with a twelve year old, blond haired, blue eyed, Polish boy. His whole trip consists of stalking this boy and his family at the beach, in the hotel, in the restaurants. His mind is only fantasizing about his “angel”. Is it disturbing just to me?
In the end he dies due to eating strawberries that were infected with cholera.
No dialogue, no action, a bland yet unsettling book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia
Moderate: Death
edwardian_girl_next_door's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I read this book for an AP English class. Due to extenuating circumstances, I didn't get a whole lot of class/teacher-led instruction or conversation on this book, so my opinions are totally based off my first impressions and what I gathered from independent study.
The elephant in the room sticks out like a sore thumb, to mix metaphors.yeah, I'm talking about the *pedophilia*. Oh..........my goodness. I have to say my stomach was churning with disgust while I was reading this. I understand Tadzio represents Death, but the way the protagonist becomes obsessed with him was really horrible. In his artistic mind he lingers on and describes every physical feature - of a MINOR!!! - and even declares "I love you!" at one point to an oblivious Tadzio. He stalks this poor boy's every move and derives immense happiness from it. He never is explicitly sexual about it (although he does have a dream about the orgastic rites of the cult of Dionysus); it's more of a obsession/no proper boundaries/puppy love/aesthetic attraction situation. Maybe it's hard for me to see past this to understand Mann's literary objective. I've heard it takes people a few times to read Nabokov's Lolita before they can appreciate its more palatable and artistically sophisticated elements. But it was Really Hard not to focus on that. I was indirectly connected with a case of alleged child m*lestation and it was all I could think about. Not the best thing to dwell on while reading the middle-aged MC's drawn out, flowery prose about the body of a teenage boy. Again, I have the feeling my emotions are getting in the way of serious explication here, but I can't shake the feeling.
Other than that, there wasn't much to say. I'm not a short story or novella person, but the pace was pretty decent and the arc believable for the amount of pages. It reminds me very much of di Lampedusa's The Leopard. Basically, if you liked Heart of Darkness and slow, winding, 19th century European books about a white man having a midlife crisis, this one's for you! Just keep a garbage can nearby for the vomiting...
The elephant in the room sticks out like a sore thumb, to mix metaphors.
Other than that, there wasn't much to say. I'm not a short story or novella person, but the pace was pretty decent and the arc believable for the amount of pages. It reminds me very much of di Lampedusa's The Leopard. Basically, if you liked Heart of Darkness and slow, winding, 19th century European books about a white man having a midlife crisis, this one's for you! Just keep a garbage can nearby for the vomiting...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Death
lenni_sc's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Sexual harassment
annahelene's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The language is stunning and so are all of the reflective thoughts and criticism. The book would have been perfect HOWEVER unfortunately the whole 14 year old boy thing is very problematic and at times hard to read. I really wished there would have been another way for Mann to convey his message and paint the picture without involving a literal child. I think the story would have worked just fine if he would have gone for a boy in his early twenties as the romantic interest and it still would have been disturbing enough. I get why he chose to tell the story the way he did but it is quite inappropriate nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia and Death
katiemertz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death