godelewa's reviews
271 reviews

Dunkles Wasser by Charlotte Link

sad tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Les Fiancés de L'Hiver by Christelle Dabos

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Murtagh - Eine dunkle Bedrohung by Christopher Paolini

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Trafficking

No Past, No Present, No Future by Yulisa Amadu Pat Maddy

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This is not a happy book, but (because) it is a real book. All the characters are flawed, they make mistakes and hurt each other and themselves. But in reading the "Brothers Three"'s story, you learn a lot, about people in general and about the complicated relations between Africa and Europe.
I can find little redeeming qualities in Ade, he is one of the worst characters I encountered (and I mean this as a compliment to the author). 
With Santigie I identified the most, the studious peacekeeper. In the end he, too, becomes horrendous

turning his frustration into violence against white women, when he is powerless to punish white men otherwise.

There is something said about the misogyny in the book in general and I'm having a hard time discerning what is just a depiction and what is actually the author's. 
Joe, the nicest of the three with the toughest fate to bear, is the only one of them who ends up in a loving and stable romantic relationship -

with a man. Which was very progressive for the time, but I can't help but feel like the men in this book just never see women as human enough to be actual companions. Also, Joe is clearly bisexual, and while I see that in the book itself, where there is so much prejudice about homosexual relations he is labelled as such, why do contemporary discussions do the same?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Die Sprache by Romano Guardini, Emil Preetorius, Walter F. Otto, Friedrich Georg Jünger, Martin Heidegger, Thrasybulos Georgiades, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

Liebe in Zeiten des Hasses: Chronik eines Gefühls 1929-1939 by Florian Illies

informative lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, and Abortion

Minor: Death, Incest, Torture, Pregnancy, and Classism

Auf Gottes Wegen by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Racism

Meister und Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Gedichte by Octavio Paz

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Der treue Verstorbene by Germano Almeida

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity