Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

17 reviews

mavemarie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

An extreamly fast paced narrative that rarely pauses to let you catch your breath, but as long as there is breath, there is hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infertility, Sexism, Excrement, Grief, Sexual assault, Blood, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Physical abuse, and Torture

maries_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

TW: slavery, racism, rape, child loss, torture, sexual assault, child abuse, grief, miscarriage. 

Mild spoilers. 

An extremely powerful story based on Mary Lumpkin, a biracial “sex slave” of Robert Lumpkin - a sadistic and notorious slave trader and jailer in Richmond, VA. Pheby Delores Brown (based on Mary), is a biracial slave living on a plantation in Virginia. Her mother was raped by their slave owner, thus had Pheby. Pheby is treated better than most others on the plantation, given an education in both school subjects and arts. When the slave owner marries, Pheby is quickly targeted by the woman of the house, for her relationship to her husband, and because she’s too educated. After her mother’s and owners death, Pheby is sold to slave traders and taken to the notorious Devils Half Acre in Richmond (a real jail). There, she is purchased by the Jailer himself, and taken to be his “mistress.” Pheby learns to do what she can to survive, and her story continues in a heartbreaking tale of survival, loss, love for her children, and hope. 

Ms. Johnson encapsulated Phebys emotions so well. I feel transported back with her inner dialogue. I cried for and with Pheby. I reflected and continued to learn about America’s truly, truly abominable history. Ms. Johnson is a powerful writer, storyteller, and visionary. With this book alone, she has become an auto-buy author for me. 

My only “issue” with the writing was that some of the chapters seemed like they had a time jump but in reality it was picking up right where the last chapter left off. I had to restart several chapters because I thought she was speaking days or weeks later, only to realize it was mere hours. Otherwise a perfect book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Blood, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Racism, Sexual harassment, Child death, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

avitakaur's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Child death, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Violence

carriewnettles's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment

kendramekalle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Murder, Child abuse, Slavery, Sexual assault, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, and Rape

missleihzel's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

An emotional ride. A very realistic look into the world and experiences of enslaved people. Could not put this book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Rape, Torture, Racial slurs, Death, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

butle2em's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

4.0

This book is a graphic depiction for what life was like for enslaved people. It took me a long time to read through it because I needed time to process the torture depicted between the pages. While this book is uncomfortable and horrifying, I think it is important that white people read responsibly written slave narratives (eg researched, historically factual, written by Black authors) in order to consider the world we inherited and our responsibility in changing that world for the better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Gore, Violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Vomit

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Trafficking, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Excrement, Infidelity, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

haley49's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This was such a poignant account of slavery in the 1850’s South and the horrible complexities of the trauma of slavery, no matter your position in the house. The comparison between enslaved people based on their duties and the interpersonal relationships that suffered. I had such visceral reactions to everything that happened and I felt for every single character (besides the enslavers) that it couldn’t be less than 5 stars. The only disappointment was the realization that this wasn’t a inspirational book where things instantly improved after slavery. I so wanted them too but that isn’t how it happened I guess. 

I would recommend this story to anyone looking for a first hand fictional account of a complex part of history. However, check trigger warnings and make sure you are mentally well enough for the heavy themes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Body horror, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Child death, Rape, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion, Religious bigotry, Ableism, and War

lexieellis13's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Sexual assault, Confinement, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: War