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sammysloth's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Sexual violence
vireojay's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
this book is deeply disturbing in many creative ways, but also ways that are all too familiar when dealing with colonially-minded white men. it’s rare that a book makes me physically cringe and shudder, but this one did several times. it was certainly original. it could be a little boring and repetitive at times, but still intriguing.
i wouldn’t say i enjoyed this book, but it is so disturbingly stark and honest in its abhorrence that you can’t help but keep reading. it was like seeing a horrible car crash that just keeps getting worse and being unable to look away until the final car has flipped over and the last person has been thrown from their seat into the road. it deals with several destructive ideologies that are all too relevant at present. the parallels to current events and the desolation of Indigenous cultures and lands was eerie and devastating.
it can be enjoyable or at least interesting to read a book where the protagonist is an awful person. sometimes there is enough nuance, enough charming qualities and character development, that it feels satisfying. however this narrator is just so terrible and is mostly oblivious to it. the few times he attempts to take responsibility or show remorse are ultimately abandoned as a result of his inherent selfishness. through the whole book you hope to understand the motivations of the narrator, you hope he will learn from his mistakes and he fails time and again. you’re also waiting for a “big reveal” of how the narrator ended up where he is now and i don’t know how else to put it, but it is more fucked up than you’re expecting.
i never really write book reviews, so obviously this book struck a chord with me and gave me a lot to think about. to be clear, this review is not a criticism of the book as a whole. it is well-written, convincing and creative. it accomplishes what i believe the author set out to do, which is to make you feel big, uncomfortable emotions. also to write about very real things, that continue to happen to Indigenous people, in a way that blatantly highlights how absurdly cruel it all is. overall not a bad book, but very heavy
i wouldn’t say i enjoyed this book, but it is so disturbingly stark and honest in its abhorrence that you can’t help but keep reading. it was like seeing a horrible car crash that just keeps getting worse and being unable to look away until the final car has flipped over and the last person has been thrown from their seat into the road. it deals with several destructive ideologies that are all too relevant at present. the parallels to current events and the desolation of Indigenous cultures and lands was eerie and devastating.
it can be enjoyable or at least interesting to read a book where the protagonist is an awful person. sometimes there is enough nuance, enough charming qualities and character development, that it feels satisfying. however this narrator is just so terrible and is mostly oblivious to it. the few times he attempts to take responsibility or show remorse are ultimately abandoned as a result of his inherent selfishness. through the whole book you hope to understand the motivations of the narrator, you hope he will learn from his mistakes and he fails time and again. you’re also waiting for a “big reveal” of how the narrator ended up where he is now and i don’t know how else to put it, but it is more fucked up than you’re expecting.
i never really write book reviews, so obviously this book struck a chord with me and gave me a lot to think about. to be clear, this review is not a criticism of the book as a whole. it is well-written, convincing and creative. it accomplishes what i believe the author set out to do, which is to make you feel big, uncomfortable emotions. also to write about very real things, that continue to happen to Indigenous people, in a way that blatantly highlights how absurdly cruel it all is. overall not a bad book, but very heavy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Ableism, Racism, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide
soyso's review
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism
heynonnynonnie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Why did I wait so long to read this book? I received this as a gift years ago when a family member bought it off my slapdash wishlist of books. Even though I've been reading a lot of books recently, I so rarely feel spellbound by one. I'm often looking for a story that I stay up all night to read, but so rarely am I treated to a story that presents so many philosophical questions that I have to take breaks to ponder them. This book rarely left my mind in the weeks it took me to finish it. I'm still parsing through some of my thoughts so here's a collection of fairly unedited thoughts:
- My favorite aspect of the book is the character and story progression that is advanced by what all narrators are pointedly ignoring. The author has purposefully written a narrator with little to no empathy, who is then validated by his friend and editor who pops in with many footnotes which provide additional detail, clarification, and often validation. Norton as a main character can be a narcissist, a snob, and unempathetic. All fairly common characteristics for a main characters dealing with the theme of moral relativism, but what's fascinating to read is how Norton is so rarely rebuked, how often he is praised, how linearly pleasing his perspective is, and how readily we can accept his viewpoint if we're not careful. How it takes just one other corroborating, credible source to bolster such a person. There are parts of the story where I am dyinggggggg that no one is pointing out the obvious and desperately reading page after page because I wanted to see him rebuked. For me it's a fun game of keep-away as the narrator sweeps his problems and messes under the rug while the fictional editor points out what lovely details said rug possesses. But rug aside, that's how so many of us actually learn about non-western cultures. There's so much western bias in foundational academic work that it's a constant game of trying to parse through an author's unconscious biases to attempt to unearth useful data. Hanya Yanagihara has recreated that same experience of constantly questioning what is true in this book, and I'm endlessly delighted (and morally mortified) by it.
- This game shows up in small details, how Norton stops using U'ivan words and replaces them with his created English counterparts. His initial lack of interest in learning U'ivan despite being on the island and only learning the language once he is in the States and in the lab (where it is artificial and under his control). Norton's tendency to muddle different cultures in a kind of hodgepodge orientalism. Rather than describe a new experience for what it is, he has a tendency to liken it to his idea of what another culture is like, despite not having experienced that culture either. His constant claims of being intellectually curious and how dull everyone else is, despite every single side character having some facet of marginalization and him reducing each person to how well they do their job or how attractive/important their approval is to getting him what he wants. There's just so many examples of how terrible Norton is that it's laughable when a new one crops up. Of course, OF COURSE! he would have this thought.
- I'm reluctant to recommend this book. Not only does it feature a charming but morally repugnant narrator who commits a number of atrocities, but I'm not sure everyone will find something meaningful in it because it is an exploration in moral relativism. While I'm of the opinion that the author is cleverly hiding the moral atrocities by averting us away from them (like how a magician keeps your eye away from the hole in the illusion), I can't help but wonder how purposefully writing such a character is different or more meaningful than accidentally writing one? Is it better to have a character who is knowingly written to behave like an unknowingly racist character than to have the unintentionally racist one? For me, I live for books that don't blantly ask these kinds of questions but create an atmosphere that lets the reader raise questions and slowly turn the nuances over in their head. I read this book slowly over several weeks because it brought up so many interesting questions and layered themes that I had to sit with before I was ready to continue. That's not always a fun experience for other readers especially when reading a series of disturbing atrocities.
- An assortment of other detractors: the beginning. It's far too long. It takes nearly 300 pages to get to the plot in the blurb. The book has a few pacing issues that could be resolved by skipping a good chunk of Norton's childhood and post-grad studies. But that section is incredibly reminiscent of Steinbeck's style, and I'm reluctant to par it down. The third act has a very different tone and pace than the rest of the book. On one hand, I can see this as the illusion fading as the reader becomes more and more disenchanted. On the other hand, I still think it could be written in a way that makes that more clear. I'm a little sad that there's not more discussion on the different cultures on U'ivu. Norton's perspective limits that, and while it is very much the point it's still a little disappointing, but many of the footnotes do provide additional color outside of Norton's perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Cultural appropriation, Animal death, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Colonisation, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Genocide
laiamai's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Animal death, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
chigrass's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Incest, Pedophilia, Animal death, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Rape
salexi's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Dementia
mangomilk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
i had to think on this one for a while and come back.
it was difficult to assign a numerical rating to this book, mostly because my appreciation for the scope and detail of the storytelling warred immensely with my disdain for the general conceit of the novel. i find the ease with which many reviewers throw around the phrase "moral relativism" disquieting, if not outright disingenuous, and the commentary on colonialism rather heavy-handed.
i'm not someone who believes that protagonists have to be likable for a story to be interesting, which is why i finished this book--but norton is such a drag of a narrator that reading this was exhausting. i also don't find that predicating a narrative on child sexual abuse/abusers necessarily makes it more compelling, and yanagihara centralizing this element not only here, but also in ALL and her latest novel (always in m/m configurations too), is definitely not helping her beat the trauma porn allegations.
also the first section concerning norton's childhood really contributed nothing to the narrative LOL
points for engendering some truly visceral feelings in me, i guess (the feelings being disgust, anger and hatred notwithstanding).
it was difficult to assign a numerical rating to this book, mostly because my appreciation for the scope and detail of the storytelling warred immensely with my disdain for the general conceit of the novel. i find the ease with which many reviewers throw around the phrase "moral relativism" disquieting, if not outright disingenuous, and the commentary on colonialism rather heavy-handed.
i'm not someone who believes that protagonists have to be likable for a story to be interesting, which is why i finished this book--but norton is such a drag of a narrator that reading this was exhausting. i also don't find that predicating a narrative on child sexual abuse/abusers necessarily makes it more compelling, and yanagihara centralizing this element not only here, but also in ALL and her latest novel (always in m/m configurations too), is definitely not helping her beat the trauma porn allegations.
also the first section concerning norton's childhood really contributed nothing to the narrative LOL
points for engendering some truly visceral feelings in me, i guess (the feelings being disgust, anger and hatred notwithstanding).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Animal death, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual assault, and Rape
grazzzo's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
i spent the whole book looking for clues in the text and footnotes about what would happen later on, thinking all the scientific info and stuff about phillip tallent perina would be important to then get to the end and realise it was just an autobiography rather than a mystery. and i was wondering why include such information about a mythological turtle which provides immortality if the last 50 pages are going to have nothing to do with this plot, if immortality will in fact play no role in it - but i realised it was norton's going to the island that would cause its destruction, cause him to have to adopt the children, and give him opportunity to do what he did. so the turtle plot was just a set up for the main plotline - which is a metaphor for and criticism of colonisation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal death, Rape, Colonisation, Dementia, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Pedophilia
bradycherish's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty