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doriander's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
djnb's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Well written. The overall theme touches on some pretty heavy topics and intentionally uses a rougher presentation of them to dig into the reader. Not the typical way you may want to hear about something but that's probably the point. The main character's inner monologue at times reminded me of the catcher in the rye.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Violence, and War
agob187's review against another edition
3.0
Oh this one was dark! I had heard about it from Canada Reads and knew it was totally my type of book. This was actually a lot more raw and disturbing than I thought it would be, but I couldnt put it down. I'll have to come back to this review once I stew a while! Excellent!
husito's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
obsessed.... a piece where surrealism and realism meet and nothing could've prepared me for how i'd feel these last 5 days. A real life, with very real problems but with a touch of insanity, cockroach successfully represents the normal life of an immigrant going through "l3orba" and a very dark past. I cannot describe how much I enjoyed this book.
alanacca123's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
3.75
jessvonb's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
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
4.0
croissante's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely mesmerizing read. Incredible voice. A must read.
abbyandthejets's review against another edition
4.25
Smart, especially if you've read Kafka, disturbing, and insightful. This book makes you think about humans and our bizarre notions. Excellent and vivid writing.
patty112's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
3.5
alanffm's review against another edition
2.0
A somewhat gross story. It's always nice to read a book which takes place in my home town (more like city) of Montreal. My problem with this book is the editing. I'm not sure if it was the publisher's or the author's desire to anger English majors with poor punctuation and grammar but they sure did a good job at doing that. There are rarely quotation marks when people start talking and certain passages read as if they were translated from Arabic. Nonetheless, this was an exotic story that had high points and low ones. Worth reading if you can stomach its morbidity.