Reviews

Flipping Boxcars by Cedric the Entertainer

chiantilya2498's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-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? No

4.75

jillybeans's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

honeycombs88's review

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

4.0

maggiegwen26's review against another edition

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

4.25

brownbagbargainbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective

2.0

shannon_reidwheat's review

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4.0

I originally started listening to this one, but, sorry Cedric, I just couldn't get into you as the reader. But I did continue in the print version, and was pleasantly surprised on how much I liked the book. And am ready for the next one, because this story is far from over!

ndesi_read_85's review

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

4.0

mstriceyb's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.0

I tried to be fully invested in this book but I couldn’t get there. Here are a few reasons. 
- Cedric the Entertainer narrated and while I love him, I didn’t care for his narration. There was no differentiation in the voices of the characters. 
- There were several characters and sometimes hard to remember who was who. I had to rewind some parts more than once. 
- The storyline goes back and forth in time and sometimes that became confusing. 
- Some of the word choice was out of place. Some descriptions didn’t flow with the story. 
- The ending seemed incomplete. There was no conclusion to anything. What happened with their marriage? The land? Was there another game? Or is that letting us know that they’ll be a sequel? 

I wanted so much more from this. 3 stars is generous.

drweezy's review

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4.0

Book #47 of 2023: Flipping Boxcars by Cedric Kyles
I loved this story and love that the main character, Babe, was inspired by Cedric’s grandfather. The city and many of the characters were real although the story was fictional. I was moved throughout the book and rooted for Babe (until I wanted to wring his neck). My heart was literally racing reading the chapters about when Babe and Hootie met. I loved Rosie, Karter and Tulip. Tulip was me as a little girl, sitting reading in the middle of chaos or retreating to my room to read.

I attended his book talk when he came to STL and he mentioned that he started writing this story with the intention of making it a tv series (think Fargo), but eventually turned it into a book. Flipping Boxcars is an incredible debut from Cedrick The Entertainer and I hope he publishes more books and gets to see this story become the tv series he dreamed about.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Soundtrack: The Man x Aloe Blacc

briisbooked's review

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3.0

I was so interested in reading this book because it was written by Cedric. I didn't let that factor overshadow the work though.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Cedric's voice as he narrated a story inspired by his late grandfather. I couldn't fully immerse myself in the story. The story would flow for me and then stop and repeat like that over and over again. One thing I will say I enjoyed was the resilience that the character Babe had. He was determined to provide for his family and although he had a bad gambling habit... he always betted on winning for them.

3/5⭐️