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ssgcedits's reviews
158 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is a long essay on whaling, as well as a story. It is about human connection and unity, as well as hunting. And for a book about hunting, it does wonders of singing the praises of its prey. In the end it is quite satisfying that the hatred of man is destroyed by one clever, much stronger animal. I am only sorry for the death of Queepeg, who Ishmael portrays so fondly. Otherwise, long live Moby Dick!
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Death
4.5
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
4.5
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming
Moderate: Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny
4.0
Minor: Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, War, Misogyny, Violence, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Death
4.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Grief, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Murder, Drug abuse, and Abandonment
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
My favourite passage:
Lovers are not at their best when it matters. Mouths dry up, palms sweat, conversation flags and all the time the heart is threatening to fly from the body once and for all. Lovers have been known to have heart attacks. Lovers drink too much from nervousness and cannot perform. They eat too little and faint during their fervently wished consummation. They do not stroke the favoured cat and their face-paint comes loose. This is not all. Whatever you have set store by, your dress, your dinner, your poetry, will go wrong.
4.5
My only criticisms are that for a book that claims to review the Anthropocene it is obscenely American in perspective (despite a couple of essays being on non-American topics/stories); and that, if you've followed John Green for a few years, even if you don't listen to the Anthropocene podcast, a lot of these stories will be at least familiar to your ears.
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Terminal illness, War, Child death, and Death