Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

2 reviews

shoshin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

I cried, I was constantly surprised and unprepared, I thought and felt deeply. A trip and a half. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Abandonment, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Violence, Dementia, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and War

If you like to be warned about disturbing content:

There is euthanasia of children in large numbers. There is also a sentient pig who chooses to die rather than suffer a painful death or be studied by the government. These are both pretty graphic descriptions, and aren't really captured by the content warnings. It's an intense book.

bookbuzzard's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked the idea of an event viewed over time from a multitude of perspectives, but it sometimes felt to me like there was a little too much going on,

a talking pig, a rift in someone's head, euthanasia theme parks, a generation ship and an alien that seeded life on earth...

it's a lot to keep in one's head all at one time, it doesn't really weave into a complete narrative for me. 
This book ended up being a lot more surreal than I had expected, though that was a bit of a relief as it kept me from reflecting too closely on the Earth's current predicaments...  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry