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finsternuss's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-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
3.0
juliafran's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sve100's review against another edition
5.0
Тази книга ми въздейства на някакво инстинктивно, животинско ниво.Неясната граница между човешкото и животинското, животът в полу-сенките се оказаха неустоими.
weasleygirl04's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
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
hannahjs's review against another edition
4.0
This is possibly the strangest book I’ve ever read…but not necessarily in a bad way.
kenzieinabox's review against another edition
dark
sad
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
4.0
somebodysgottadoit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-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
4.25
Genuinely beautiful prose.
lori_reads_everything's review against another edition
3.0
While I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, I found the subject matter to be... uncomfortable. This book is probably best described as "disturbing" and "creepy" - and not in a way that is intriguing, but in a way that makes you close the curtains, double check the locks on the doors, and question if you can get a restraining order against a book.
megan_prairierose's review against another edition
4.0
"You know, we come to these countries for refuge and to find better lives, but it is these countries that made us leave our homes in the first place.... these countries we live in talk about democracy but they do not want democracy. They only want dictators. It is easier for them to deal with dictators than to have democracy in the countries we came from. I fought for democracy. I was tortured for democracy."
This passage stands out the most for me. This book is a powerful look into the life of a refugee in Canada. The cab driver who was tortured for fighting for democracy, the waitress who was brutally raped every day for years in jail, while her torturer now has diplomatic immunity in Canada, the bus boy with PTSD over the death of his sister. All of these people are displaced and trying to come to terms with living in a new country with a new language and unspoken codes of conduct.
I do wish that the author had spent more time development some of these characters but overall this book showed me a glimpse into the struggle of immigrants in Canada.
This passage stands out the most for me. This book is a powerful look into the life of a refugee in Canada. The cab driver who was tortured for fighting for democracy, the waitress who was brutally raped every day for years in jail, while her torturer now has diplomatic immunity in Canada, the bus boy with PTSD over the death of his sister. All of these people are displaced and trying to come to terms with living in a new country with a new language and unspoken codes of conduct.
I do wish that the author had spent more time development some of these characters but overall this book showed me a glimpse into the struggle of immigrants in Canada.
diannastarr's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.0
As it is my goal to read the books that Mary Gaitskill critiques in Somebody With a Little Hammer before I read her chapters, Cockroach was this week's book of choice. I finished it in a day while hankering down at a coffee shop after work and it was a fascinating read - not because of the prose or the intriguing stream of consciousness, but in watching the Kafka-esque devolution of the narrator, his sanity, and the plot around him.
Some people love this piece in how the author experiments with unreliable perspective and his nihilistic approach to the world around him, while others loathe this piece. I try not to read reviews before writing my own, but in this case I saw people arguing that Cockroach was grotesque, that the unnamed narrator is an egocentric and psychotic thief with an unhealthy relationship with woman and an antisocial attitude that leads to his downfall. I believe that this piece can be both: that we can admire the experimentation and the modern "man or monster" dichotomy that Hage has poked holes at while also despising the narrator as a character - but not the novel itself.
Personally, I saw the narrator not necessarily as a "character" or an individual, but as a vessel in a vent piece in which Hage can dive into the underworld that is the Montreal immigrant community, the deep seated traumas of war and the many ways it manifests, the fetishization of an "othered" culture by those too privileged to experience the same, the status quos of society and the madness that comes with being trapped in a cage of ones own making. While I haven't read Hage's other work (De Niro's Game), I found this one to be both interesting and a bit of a let down: one that was strong in the beginning and dissolved into nonsense by the end - but not in a way that brought the narrator's disheveled mental state to the forefront that it deserved. It was a good read, an interesting read, but not as powerful as I had hoped.
Some people love this piece in how the author experiments with unreliable perspective and his nihilistic approach to the world around him, while others loathe this piece. I try not to read reviews before writing my own, but in this case I saw people arguing that Cockroach was grotesque, that the unnamed narrator is an egocentric and psychotic thief with an unhealthy relationship with woman and an antisocial attitude that leads to his downfall. I believe that this piece can be both: that we can admire the experimentation and the modern "man or monster" dichotomy that Hage has poked holes at while also despising the narrator as a character - but not the novel itself.
Personally, I saw the narrator not necessarily as a "character" or an individual, but as a vessel in a vent piece in which Hage can dive into the underworld that is the Montreal immigrant community, the deep seated traumas of war and the many ways it manifests, the fetishization of an "othered" culture by those too privileged to experience the same, the status quos of society and the madness that comes with being trapped in a cage of ones own making. While I haven't read Hage's other work (De Niro's Game), I found this one to be both interesting and a bit of a let down: one that was strong in the beginning and dissolved into nonsense by the end - but not in a way that brought the narrator's disheveled mental state to the forefront that it deserved. It was a good read, an interesting read, but not as powerful as I had hoped.