Reviews tagging 'Racism'

De som försvann by Sheena Kamal

3 reviews

serenedancer's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.25

I liked the writing in this book and the story was interesting. I also liked the characters. 

However, at the same time I didn't really brought into the story. I was interested in finding out what happened but at the same time I could walk away and not care about finding out.

This book is just one I've read and will probably never think about it again.
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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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3.75

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horizonous's review against another edition

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After reading some reviews I'm convinced my initial feeling is correct that I would probably soon start hate-reading this. I'm all for characters who deal with some sort of trauma but in this case it just seems like there are tropes and clichés stacked on top of each other just to create.. something out of this main character and explain her standoffish loner personality:

  • sober alcoholic (so far at least)
  • more or less homeless, secretly lives in the basement of her work place without anyone noticing because her colleagues don't even know what car she drives or that it's parked by the back entrance day and night, oh and she doesn't have a life outside work anyway so of course she's always around
  • traumatic childhood spent in foster homes
  • was brutally raped which resulted in a coma and a pregnancy
  • the child she gave up for adoption now goes missing and her past comes back to haunt her
  • basically describes herself as a walking lie detector
  • is judgmental of everything and everybody including her horny stray dog which she mentions every time the dog comes up and a teenage girl she describes as a prostitute because she wears a skirt and a t-shirt
  • has definitely some anger/violence issues
  • was kicked out of the military (at this point I can only guess why, but I'm sure she would have told me further into the story in a long internal monologue dripping with cynicism)
  • and of course carries always some hairpins in case she needs to break in somewhere

On top of that, the writing is just clunky. I'm not the biggest fan of a first person narrative because of how unrealistic the inner life of a characters is portrayed a lot of the times. As if someone is walking around thinking about how dark and unfathomable their eyes are all day.
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