Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

7 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

helhas3letters's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This collection of short stories is well written, although I found a lot of the content quite depressing. I most enjoyed the story 'Why Won't Women Just Say What They Want'.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Death, and Racism

Minor: Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy

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

dramaqueentears's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The short stories would be a 3 and the novella would be a 5, so I’m going to round out my review to 4 stars.

All in all, Danielle Evans can tell an enthralling story. The plot is there. I didn’t think the characters were developed enough, or maybe the plot was told in a removed way? Either way, something felt lacking to me in the short stories. Definitely thought provoking though. The ones that have me thinking are “Boys Go to Jupiter,” a story about a white girl who is harassed online for wearing a Confederate flag bathing suit, and “Why Won’t Women Say What They Want?,” a story about an artist who was emotionally abusive to several women in various relationships who turns his apologies to each of them into an art exhibit. The other short stories to me were just forgettable. 

HOWEVER. I’ve been raving all day about the novella, “The Office of Historical Corrections.” The plot reminds me of The Vanishing Half, but I like the author’s creation of the Institute of Public History, a fictional government agency that works to correct historical inaccuracies. I love the dynamic between Cassie and Genie. Cassie works for the agency to go along to get along, whereas Genie gets pushed out because telling the “truth” about America’s treatment of Black people with no analysis isn’t enough for her. I could have read a whole book about the two of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Police brutality

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

- Every single story in this collection feels like it could be its own novel, and yet somehow I am not left wanting more from any of them - they are all perfectly self-contained.
- Some feel ripped from modern headlines (Boys Go to Jupiter) and some are steeped in family history (Alcatraz) but every one feels populated with real people and real history.
- And when everyone tells you the novella that closes this book is phenomenal, everyone is right - holy cats, wow! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

solidsnake's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

claudianeureads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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: Racism and Gun violence

Minor: Death, Cancer, Police brutality, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping