Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Dogs of Summer

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Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu

26 reviews

robyn1998's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed my time listening to this but I'm not sure that I would recommend it? I wish it focused more on Canarian culture and the life of Isora and the unnamed character (another unnamed character, WHY!?!?! So annoying!) and less on poop, vomit, enemas, constipation, diarrhoea, masturbation and vaginas. I don't mind gross books and I think these subjects can be tackled effectively but here it just felt like something the author inserted to produce a reaction because she didn't know what else to say. I also find it annoying that people compare every book about female friendship to My Brilliant Friend as if there isn't a large range of subjects that these books can cover. The end kind of came out of nowhere as well to be honest.

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dschmartin's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.0

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maricela's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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malineu's review against another edition

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

2.75

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julesceasara's review against another edition

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

2.5

Gross but I guess that was most of the plot. The fact they were 10 years old was kind of Ick. However it was a very quick, engrossing read. For the life of me I can’t figure out the ending like wtf actually happened and I can’t find any mention of it online I feel like I’m losing my mind. Did someone die? Or not? Like I don’t know, and it seems like no one else does either.

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hollyrebecca's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This story is raw, visceral, and disgusting in it’s depiction of girlhood and puberty in poverty. I rarely read books that make me feel nauseous and fascinated at the same time, but this book definitely achieved that.

We follow our heroine over the course of a summer in her home in the mountains of Tenerife. In this short span of time we see, from her 10-year-old eyes, friendships and family in both the mundane and the adventurous.

Abreu uses a very interesting technique for story telling to evoke our childish narrator, the prose being unlike anything I’ve read. Whole chapters are told as single sentences without any punctuation. There’s no differentiation between speech and other text throughout. It culminates into a piece of work that reads as both a diary and an internal monologue.

Our heroine has a very restricted worldview, driven in part by her having no knowledge or interest in seeing the world past a certain point of her village. This is reflected in the cultural references throughout the book, which made me feel like these characters existed in almost a different world. The slang terms and child-like misnomers for recognisable English-name brands, such as The Sinsons rather than The Simpsons, perpetuated this sensation.

I think this book was very well written, I just personally wouldn’t read this again as some of the graphic descriptions made me feel very unsettled. I appreciate that this was the purpose of the novel, to show you the unsettling realities of growing up in such an environment while tackling some difficult topics, but it unfortunately wasn’t for me.

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