Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Pew by Catherine Lacey

31 reviews

maceydowns's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Racism, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

blyttgh's review against another edition

4.25

05/12/24 4.25/5 stars. Very thoughtful and mesmerizing. I thoroughly enjoyed the insight from the narrator’s eyes of the other outsiders in this town. There was a real sense of quiet and calm in certain aspects.

I must have had a mother, but I also knew I didn’t have a mother. I wasn’t anyone’s son or daughter. What a freedom that was and what a burden that was—to not have a home to go to, and to not have a home to go home to.
26-27 

Well. It’s overrated, family. You’re lucky if you get born into one where you belong. It’s really a lot more rare than people want to say.
100

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Murder

booksillremember's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The premise was intriguing and I usually enjoy stories with ambiguous settings, characters and endings. There are some punchy metaphors here and there and some subtle observations.

But with this one, I feel it's trying to be too many things all at once.
The characters are too complex for it to work as a fable and too one-dimensional for it to work as a morally complex novel. The mix of show-don't-tell and tell-don't-show doesn't really work for me because neither feel fully fleshed out. The church people are ridiculously cringe and bigoted, whereas the more abstract commentary just feels preachy and sometimes a bit prerentious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Violence

kenley11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Murder and War

Minor: Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Catherine Lacey is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Compared to Biography of X, I found Pew to be a rather simple and straightforward story that says an awful lot without saying too much. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because while I generally always welcome an ambiguous ending, I'm not entirely sure how much I loved the way this one was written. Regardless, I found this to be a really great piece of speculative fiction with suburb writing that I will likely return to in the future.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

oliviaemain's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Hate crime and Racism

gidgeytheg's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

lidia7's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

i'm very confused by the ending but still i enjoyed my time a lot!

i was left with a lot of questions at the end, very spoiler heavy!! :
 

Is there an actual human sacrifice? What happens to the kids? Are they reading names of kids that were sacrificed? Does Pew sacrifice themselves or do they run away? etc...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Xenophobia

Moderate: Hate crime, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Confinement, Medical content, Animal death, and Murder

charlie_cheese's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this was for the shirley jackson babes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Classism, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death

popiloey's review against another edition

reflective 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? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Religious bigotry