Reviews

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall

rickireadss's review against another edition

5.0

this was informative and impactful. yes, i cried. yes, i recommend. i could feel the frustration of the author and found myself crying out of frustration as well. at many points, i had to take a break and stop reading because, like the author, i found myself overwhelmed with grief from the stories, but i think these stories are important to be read and learned from. i definitely recommend and be mindful of the content warnings.

representation: Black author/narrator, Queer author/narrator

content warnings:

slavery, racism, violence, rape, sexual violence, sexual assault, colonization, confinement, pedophilia, child death, death, murder, sexual harassment, grief, fire/fire injury, suicide

screechie's review

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Any summary would be reductive and unjust. Well worth your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Colonisation, and Trafficking

jess_mango's review

4.0

Rebecca Hall is a lawyer and a history professor who ended up going down a rabbit hole while researching one of her cases. She became fascinated with women who led slave revolts in New York. These women were mentioned in some documents but there wasn't much detail. Hall started to dig through various sources to try to find more information on particular women who were involved. This graphic novel tells the story of Rebecca's work and also the story of the women who she discovered in her research. It really highlights how the stories of slaves themselves, particularly female slaves have often been erased. What is left is the story of the oppressor who often left the details of female slaves as side notes, if that. This is a great read for history buffs and those who want to read more #ownvoices stories about slavery.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

kdahlo's review

4.0

Really insightful graphic novel about the struggles of a historian trying to fill in a history that has been deliberately ignored and suppressed. The art didn't really click with me, but I thought the content was very, very good. The research Rebecca Hall did for this book was fascinating, and I thought her choice to share her personal journey as part of the story was smart and compelling.

hnagarne's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative

4.5

pamjohnson01's review

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Powerful nonfiction graphic novel on possible women-led slave revolts. Inference and imagination fills in the historical record. Subject is difficult to read. 

Not a fan of the art style but look sharp because the images tell deeper stories. 

abkinlaw's review

emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.5

santersgrotto's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

vezreads's review

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

A fantastic graphic novel. I learnt a lot. I would only change the order the stories were presented in, some information given later in the book would have been helpful to know from the start, although I think the author had her reasons for the way she laid it all out.

verovivaldi9's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5