Reviews with content warning for Rape - Grad lopova

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Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Grad lopova by David Benioff

25 reviews

redporchinverter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I don't think I would've liked City of Thieves as much if it wasn't inspired by a true story, because the twists it takes are so absurd and harrowing that they must be grounded in reality to be believable. In Lev and Kolya, David Benioff finds heroes with just the right mix of gallows humor and idealism to bring light to the horrifying circumstances in which they find themselves without reducing that suffering to merely a backdrop for their adventures.

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kgoody's review against another edition

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adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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noellelala's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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seforaflorian's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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stephe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny sad fast-paced

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

2.5

This book is part of that tired, old genre, “Oh, You Thought WWII was Bad? You Have NO Idea.” Yes, truly horrifying, awful things happened in WWII, but here they’re played for shock more than anything else, as if cannibalism and torture and rape were less tragedy and injustice and more spectacle and opportunities for shallow, serendipitous “heroism.” Not to mention, the prologue frames the book as a fictionalization of events in the life of the author’s grandfather, which one must actually google to find out is it’s own fiction. In short, a fairly self-focused and self-exultant perspective.

I will say, the story was plotted and paced well, even gripping in spite of the exploitative use of fictionalized historical pain and tragedy. And I loved the absurdity of a mission to find a dozen eggs. But the main characters felt flat, as did my feelings toward them; it was hard to care one way or another about their success. And such a non-empathic depiction of human suffering, especially with regard to historical events, was off-putting.

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semi's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

1.25

I only finished this book out of pure spite. It started off fine, but I couldn’t get behind the dark humour, crassness, and how the male characters treat woman as sex organs that should be ready to please them at their will. The characters felt flat to me and I ended up feeling like I knew nothing about them in the end. The book also has a very detached feeling, so it’s not the kind of book that is meant to pull at your heart strings and make you feel the despair of war. It feels more like you’re passively watching two characters go on an adventure.

Also there was one scene that really rubbed me the wrong way. The two main characters played a part in “freeing” these young girls from being raped from German soldiers. But right after they were making comments about which girl they wanted to “have dibs on.” Like it just felt very tone deaf to for these guys (16 and 18) talk about wanting to be sexual with these girls (around 12-14) right after hearing all the sexual trauma they JUST went through. There was also a part where Kolya asked why the girls didn’t leave or why they chose to say…As if they had much of a choice.

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ranireadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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mandi_lea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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itshrewsbury's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if I understood anything about Russian literature and history, but it was still a compelling read wherein I cared about the characters and how the story would end. While vulgar, it truly encapsulates what it is to be a boy and what it is to be at war.

18+

TW/CW: Torture, cannibalism, graphic animal death, dismemberment, mention of rape

“It made me happy that poems are referred to in the present tense even when the poet is in the past tense.” (109)

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kinahgrace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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