Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

55 reviews

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

The Office of Historical Corrections is a collection of short stories about, fittingly, histories. The familial, the personal, the buried, the rewritten, and the ugly. It reflects on the history of Blackness in America—specifically, being a Black woman in America—and all the grief that comes with it. This left me tender and raw, but most importantly, I felt seen. I will be sure to seek out Evans’ writing in the future, and will likely revisit these stories often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Death of parent

bail33's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Hate crime

jessereadsthings's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, Death, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

kaimetcalfe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

Moderate: Alcohol and Infidelity

dianakamau's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racial slurs, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Gun violence

mpaterson's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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

This is my first Danielle Evans read and I’m an instant fan. Short storytelling is an art and she’s an artist. Each story was a uniquely powerful look into the plurality of experiences with racial inequity in America - equally poignant and pithy and effortlessly moves from witty to  uncomfortable to melancholy. I’ll be sitting with the final pages for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Misogyny, Death, and Cancer

Minor: Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Car accident

nadia's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

A real solid collection of stories, heavily focused on the themes of race in America, especially the experiences of black women, correcting past mistakes, apologies, and forgiveness.

I really enjoyed the variety and the themes explored and was intrigued by the setup of pretty much all of the stories. However, I'm left feeling like a little something was missing when thinking of the collection as a whole. I can't help but feel like I was on the verge of "wow" for a lot of the stories but then they fell short a little bit. I guess it's the common "I wanted more!" that I typically have with short stories.

I'm also wondering whether this would have been a better one for me to read in print. I listened to the audio and I think jumping in and out that way made it harder for me to remember salient details, especially with the novella at the end.

However, the writing is great and there were some real standout moments, especially in the titular novella. It's also incredibly thought-provoking on several layers. I was going to give this book a 3.75, but I think I want to round it up to a 4!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Car accident, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Cancer

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

a nice collection of short stories and a novella, the office of historical corrections depicts the stories of various women, all of whom are braving against sth, w/ "richard of york...", "why wont women..." and "anything could disappear" being my favorites. 

woven thruout many of the stories are both casual and uncasual racism, whose depiction that encompasses a wide range of seriousness demonstrates how corrosive it is, how constant the strain is in black characters, how it could turn fatal and life-threatening w/ the drop of a hat. 

while evans explores her characters - even the unpleasant ones - interestingly enough, some of the stories stand more than others, while a few is forgettable. the book's also not as impactful as it could be, i think, but perhaps it's the author's intention to make this collection an understated one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Racism

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Death

mmayern's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Sexism

tenten's review against another edition

emotional funny

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

5.0

ALL BANGERS. NO SKIP ALBUM.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Racism

Minor: Infertility, Murder, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Infidelity