Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

20 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

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

This collection is amazing.

Danielle Evans is a force, a talent, a gifted writer, a freaking prose deity, all of the superlatives. Every story in this collection is detailed, gripping, and emotionally charged but also incredibly pedestrian - on the surface. 

Some standouts for me:

• Boys Go To Jupiter: in which a phenomenally self-absorbed white girl goes to great lengths to justify her blatant racism. I have never felt more uncomfortable while reading a story, in the best way.
• Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: in which an artist disappears for years only to reinsert himself in the public consciousness via extremely public and elaborate apologies. Everything about this one is perfect.
• Anything Could Disappear: in which a young woman unintentionally kidnaps a toddler.
• The Office of Historical Corrections: a novella that is simultaneously deep commentary on history and historians, racial justice, Black womanhood, the federal government, gentrification and white supremacy and also a really interesting near-future story about a woman doing her (boring) job.

👍🏻Recommended for fans of short stories and contemporary fiction. If you liked Milk, Blood, Heat by Dantiel Moniz or Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, you will enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Chronic illness, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Car accident, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Racial slurs

1quillb's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

I had high hopes for this, but it just didn’t work out. I usually enjoy short stories, but these were just… short. For me, a good short story is only good if it manages to fit some sort of deeper meaning into its pages, and I couldn’t find a meaning in most of these.
I don’t know this author or what they were hoping to accomplish from these, so I don’t know how to judge, but nothing really happened to anyone except in the last story. And the description/title of the book is, in my opinion, misleading, because it doesn’t have anything to do with the actual concepts in the book. I also didn’t really like how it was written, I found it confusing. 

Happily Ever After: 2.5/5
Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain: 2/5
Boys Go to Jupiter: 2.5/5
Alcatraz: 4/5
Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: 3.5/5
Anything Could Disappear: 4/5
The Office of Historical Corrections: 4/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Hate crime

Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Death of parent, and Cancer

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

balladofreadingqueer's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this short story collection. My favourite was the title story. It follows two black women historians as they work at the new Institute of Public History that corrects historical errors. We learn about their intertwined lives together in school, grad school and their job and discover their dislike of one another but often their allegiance. It explores on historical plaque in Wisconsin and the story of a racist arson attack, passing and family secrets. It ends with racial violence.

Many of the stories explore history and American race relations. Boys go to Jupiter examines a white woman wearing a confederate flag bikini, her run ins with the university diversity board, the hate mail (and support) she received. It also reflects on her earlier life, a close friendship with a black neighbour and her brother and her silence and responsibility for his death. Happily Ever After set in a titanic museum which considers medical racism and tokenism. Alcatraz explores familial history, desire to correct the historical record of an incorrect dishonorable discharge after her grandfather was falsely imprisoned.

Overall this story collection predominantly focuses on the stories of black women and addresses a lot of important and difficult themes such as white supremacy, death of parents and friends, breakdown of relationships, misogyny and how these women attempted to live their lives with joy and dignity in a difficult world.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Car accident, Cancer, Death of parent, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Murder

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery

cheye13'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is one of the best collections I have read in a while and definitely one of the best books I've read this year. I bumped a star because some passages were a bit too rambly for me to follow and I think the more subtle messages went over my head but, boy, were they all beautiful (if painful) to read.

★★★★★|Why Won't Women Just Say What They Want; Anything Could Disappear; The Office of Historical Corrections
★★★★|Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain; Boys Go To Jupiter
★★★|Happily Ever After; Alcatraz

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cancer, Confinement, Suicide, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

All content is handled conscientiously and with intention.

bennificial's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

There were four short stories, if I recall correctly, that all centered on different peoples experiences with race in the US. Very well written, but also mostly sad. My favorite was

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Death of parent

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense

• Loveable characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Hate crime

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Car accident, Sexism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship