Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

3 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.

readwithserena's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is so beautifully written. Each chapter is a snapshot of a story that evokes so much emotion and reflection. It reminds me of the aspects I loved of The Overstory- stories that overlap slightly, but could also stand alone.
I think this book is particularly difficult because it sits so closely to our current reality. Like Black Mirror, sometimes the most terrifying stories are the ones that we can truly imagine happening. 
I want to send this to my Environmental literature professors and my philosophy professors so that I can discuss it with them. I also want all my friends and coworkers to read this and discuss it with me too. Honestly, everyone should read this book and then have a worldwide discussion to process.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

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