Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Der Gesang der Flusskrebse: Roman by Delia Owens

54 reviews

amethystbutterfly's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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hayleygray's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

The entire time I read this book, I was sad, happy and angry all at the same time as learning educational things through Kya’s love for the marsh. I read this book within 3 days because I could not put it down. And when I did put it down, I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again. 
I truly thought I knew who the murderer was but I was so shocked at the last few pages. This was an incredible story about love, acceptance, difference and the harsh realities of the natural order of everything and every living species. 
I cannot wait to see the movie after reading this! Highly recommend. 
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hgallagher's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kdailyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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camoo3032's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The imagery is incredibly beautiful and worth reading for that alone
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saurahsaurus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Updated 7/20/22. I am not one of those who believes that an artist’s works should be separated from their personal life. If I am going to spend my money and time on something, I want it align with my values—or at least not blatantly violate my conscience. Shortly after finishing this book, I discovered that the author, her husband, and her stepson were wanted for questioning related to their potential involvement in the murder of an alleged poacher in Zambia. The White Savior tropes and
approval of the main character getting away with murder
all make sense now. Even without the knowledge that the author’s stepson was potentially involved in the murder of a Zambian man in a formerly colonized country and that the author and her then-family fled the country instead of cooperating with investigators, this book made me uneasy. It was exasperatingly self-indulgent in the way it dealt with race and racism, to the point that the Black characters seemed almost cartoonish in their irreality. (Read: an entire community of Black people, who had never met Kya—a White outsider—
parted like the Red Sea when Kya came to their segregated neighborhood for Jumpin’s funeral.
)

I think that this type of racism (White Savior and ever-so-grateful Black people who cannot be the architects of their own salvation) is inherently harmful, but bearing the author’s personal history in mind, it takes on a new level of sinisterness. It reeks of White guilt and fragility, and bears entirely too much resemblance to the author’s life to be coincidence.

I previously gave this book a 2.75, but it truly deserves a zero for the author’s real life sins.

Original review: The author has such a distinct style of writing, and her prose can be strikingly beautiful—intermittently simple and abstruse. However, I have two main issues with this book. Chiefly, I felt like certain aspects of this book weren’t consistent in conveying the social mores of the time, or their severity. I understand that racial inequality is difficult to convey and a sensitive topic, but I always have to wonder why an author chooses a time period in which this is a salient issue, only to not effectively capture its essence. It very much felt like a White person trying to portray the experience of Black Americans at the time. For instance, despite being a small and deeply segregated town,
the judge decided on the spot that a trial that occurred in his court would be integrated, and that anyone who disagreed would not be welcome. It just didn’t seem realistic.
As another example,
when Jumpin’, a Black supporting character and a close friend of Kya’s, was being threatened by some White boys, Kya just happened to be in the right place at the right time. She defended Jumpin’ by incapacitating the two boys.
It felt very much like a “White Savior” moment to me. Furthermore,
when one of the Black characters dies in the book, the whole town comes out to attend his funeral and every Black person that attended stepped aside for Kya…despite none of them knowing her.
It was all very weird and didn’t feel realistic or consistent with the racism depicted—either implicitly or explicitly. As yet another example,
at one point, Kya even compares her situation to situations that have befallen Black women and says it’s the exact same. Seriously? Even as an outcast, Kya was a WHITE WOMAN. I don’t think I need to explain why Kya’s life experiences would have been drastically different from a Black woman in the same position. Kya may have been discouraged from visiting certain places, but she had a legal right to do so. Black people at the time were legally barred from many establishments. Furthermore and most importantly, (massive spoiler ahead) if a Black person had been accused of murdering a White man in 1970, in a small and segregated town, I cannot see how they would’ve possibly been acquitted or had any semblance of a fair trial. How is that the same? Ugh.


My second main issue was the ending. Massive spoiler ahead.
I don’t even know what to say, really. I mean, sure I get why Kya would do what she did, but then I feel like it completely nullifies all of the lessons the book is supposed to be teaching and preaching about. Kya was ostracized, which was horribly wrong, but then the towns people were actually right about her committing murder? And I felt like the book implied that they were wrong for being prejudiced and jumping to conclusions. Sure, their reasoning was prejudiced but they ended up being right. If you’re gonna have Kya, this person who’s supposed to be innocent and wild and free and a bit weird but harmless, be the killer…then lean into that. There was not really a whole lot of duality to her (eg a dark side) that would have made that plot twist make sense. So why do it, if not for shock value? It just felt really inconsistent with her character. I would have actually rooted for Kya to get away with murder (in fiction only!) if that dark side had been established earlier on and not just out of nowhere.


Anyway, I enjoyed parts of this book but I don’t see myself re-reading it. There are so many books out there, and I’m almost frustrated that I spent time reading this one.
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mirroball's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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chiaseedreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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lynssss's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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kansxlibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Yes this book has A LOT of trigger warnings- not all of them are graphic. The way the author wrote this book is so captivating and yes I was sitting with my mouth open after I finished the book.
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