Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

6 reviews

margolovie89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

The story of the women from the West Indies who live in apocalyptic Toronto was a solid story line. I had my phone out to take note of the language  and spirits. The vocabulary was a bit difficult to understand, but was interesting. The ending was a bit hard to understand with so much going on and so many characters, but reading it slowly and taking notes helped. I’ll defiantly read another book by Nalo Hopkinson. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Addiction, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Body horror

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

'Brown Girl in the Ring' by Nalo Hopkinson is an engaging folklore filled novel set in nearfuture Toronto. 
Ti-Jeanne lives in postriots Toronto with her grandmother. Her mother disappeared when she was young and Ti-Jeanne has been working to find her place in the world. When Tony, the father of her child, comes to Ti-Jeanne's grandmother for help after the local crime boss taps him for a horrific project, Ti-Jeanne begins to learn more about her grandmother's spirits and how the violence in the city is tied to her own family. 
I am amazed that this was Hopkinson's debut novel. The prose is pristine and evocative. The characters are fully fledged and engaging. The reader is plopped down into a world that feels real. I love how Hopkinson has mixed Caribbean folklore with a nearfuture Toronto setting to create something completely new and unique. There is so much that happens in this book over a relatively short amount of time and yet it is easy to follow and exciting. I cannot wait to read more of Hopkinson's work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Blood, Murder, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Gore, Classism, Child death, Death of parent, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, and Drug use

unboxedjack's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Blood, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Gore, Drug use, and Violence

menomica's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

I don’t normally like reading dystopian novels bc it’s usually a form of political critique and it comes off as  speculative fiction, which doesn’t really spark that much joy for me, or it’s just a back-drop for the very boring and white characters (i.g. The Hunger Games or Divergent). But… this one here very much intrigued me. I like the aspect of Haitian mythology. The story is very well-made. It starts off a bit slow and then after Chapter 5 Miss Hopkins will not let you know peace. Just panic and stress and vibes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, and Child death

mothdan's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual content

forced drug use and a POV character has to witness someone being skinned alive

sionnac's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma