Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Unworthy

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica

325 reviews

lexcellent's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Loved this book even more than I thought I would.

Content Warnings

sillysausagezj's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Beautifully written, such rich prose but completely devastating. A lot is left unanswered but it's a moving character study that I didn't want to end once I was halfway. Took a few attempts for me to get into this but I was hooked around page 70 & read the rest in one afternoon. I'll definitely be rereading this, really beautiful & clever literary devices here, the animal & human metaphors & foreshadowing was great. Agustina Bazterrica knows how to write haunting but perfect endings that are gut punches.

Content Warnings

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

one thing to note about this book: major themes of rape and sexual assault in a way that even storygraph didn’t adequately prepare me for (“moderate” my ass); it’s all plot-relevant and not gratuitous (mostly telegraphed and off-page), but I def got more than I was in the right mindset for. Do with that what you will! Now for the usual rambling

Docked a full star for the ending; not because I didn’t like how it ended, but because it felt like the author hit a word or page limit and realized they had to wrap it up quicker than planned. It feels rushed, and while some of that is appropriate for the narrative style, it also just felt like we were shuffled to a conclusion when we could’ve dwelt more on either the main relationship or the truths of the world/the “sisterhood” before the big event.

all that said i liked the ride, and the unhinged diary format was exquisite in the most bleak, jagged way. our mc is WILD and has good reason for behaving as such. She schemes, she obsesses, she painfully recollects, and we get all of the events filtered through her brain. She is an incredibly real character, one very easy to feel for even as she poisons her neighbors

The bloody rivalry within the sisterhood is horribly true to life - trapped, angry women hurting each other to receive favor from the man browbeating and even mutilating them all into obedience; Sister Superior relishing their pain and assaulting them too all while being exempt (we assume) from the violence enacted upon every other woman in the sisterhood - horrifying

this book made me angry and and sad, but it was also cathartic in that it made me feel a little less crazy for my general mistrust of men in power and religious institutions. this is fiction, but it is fiction based on historical and current examples of how religion and power are used to devastating effect on vulnerable populations. The side of “End Times = complete breakdown of protection for women & children” was the icing on the cake- America is barreling towards that as we speak!

This is a very bleak book, so i

am imagining Lucia & co. on a mad max fury road-esque journey through a a ravaged earth as healing

Content Warnings

imanniz's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense 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

The Unworthy is set in a far distant future where there’s a “total blackout” which resulted in the destruction of the world, along with its inhabitants. The main character is one of the few humans who survived and she ended up in a convent called the Sacred Sisterhood where they worship a God and forsake the holy trinity. The main character lives her life selfishly at the convent until she met a newcomer called Lucia. Lucia taught the main character what it means to be human again and their feelings grow for each other. There’s a slight plot twist at the end, which is to be expected from the author.

Content Warnings

emilymosc's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Confusing and at times incoherent, but in a way that makes sense given the storytelling style (somewhat epistolary). I wish the book were longer and we were given more details and explanations. I’ll definitely be pondering the deeper meaning of this book for the next few days.

Content Warnings