Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

26 reviews

soapiepart's review

challenging dark tense 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? N/A

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, and Rape

kathryngardyne's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Colonisation

evelynepisodes's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Murder and Violence

Minor: Rape and Trafficking

lonelyghostsclub's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Racism, Violence, Torture, Hate crime, and Grief

fieldofhats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Read for British Literature.

This was one of the more entertaining and exciting texts I have read for my Brit Lit class, though I don’t feel comfortable giving it more than 2 stars. I think this may have been very progressive for the early 18th century, but it’s very racist in the modern sense, which is uncomfortable at the very least. Oroonoko is constantly praised for his western features and interests, and it’s implied that he’s only beautiful because of that. And, through a series of nonsensical contrivances, he is “forced” to kill his wife and then brutally torture himself in a fit of insanity, before he is eventually put to death. This was one of the worst endings I have ever read in a book, period. Aphra Behn was going for an honor-bound duty-or-death type of thing, but it didn’t work because it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t need to kill his wife (or himself, though that’s at least a common literary theme) to take revenge. One might say that this is just a product of its time and that this is how all premodern literature is, but I call bullshit on that. In the literary world Shakespeare, the King Arthur myths, The Canterbury Tales, etc., this was just plain bad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Body horror, Misogyny, Murder, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, and Self harm

mizreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual violence and Racism

question47's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

0.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Deportation, Cultural appropriation, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Gore, Classism, Racism, Self harm, and Trafficking

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

ren_reading's review

adventurous challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, and Slavery

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

Its difficult to give this book a star rating. This was assigned to me for a college course that is focused on early British literature. At first, I appreciated the opportunity to read something from a female author and an early example of a traditional novel. However, as the story went on, the content became more and more gruesome, and my enthusiasm for the text vanished.

The story is a very graphic depiction of an enslaved person's life on a plantation in the 1680s. And you get a cross section of everything that comes with that. The last third is especially difficult to get through. From a purely academic perspective, it's a good representation of early white supremacy, colonialism, slavery, the slave trade, racism, bigotry, misogyny, etc. And all within just sixty pages.

Don't read this book if you don't have to.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

amymegan2023's review

dark informative tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Colonisation, Racism, and Slavery