Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

8 reviews

jennieliv's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

Took a while to get into but loved the way it ended 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Medical content, Slavery, Death, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

rae1019's review against another edition

challenging emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Animal death, Child abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

jeanbpdx's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, and Colonisation

Minor: Slavery and Abandonment

Shoutout to the many book lists within this book.

laurasullivan's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Mental illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Slavery, and Racism

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Sentence is a ghost story, although it is as comforting as it is haunting.  It’s an intimate picture of bookselling, and of bookselling during a pandemic and social justice reckoning, set in Erdrich’s own store in Minneapolis.  Its heroine, queer Indigenous ex-con Tookie, is so alive she leaps right off the page—gritty, passionate, and human.  Louise Erdrich is a natural storyteller and fabulous narrator—warm and sincere, with perfect timing.  This is a book about connection in every way possible.  It’s funny and enraging and heartwarming all at once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Slavery, and Suicide attempt

sarah984's review

hopeful reflective 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

It's hard to know what to say about this book. It feels like I read it at the perfect time. A lot of heavy content is covered (incarceration, identity, reckoning with historic violence, as well as the events of 2020 as they occurred in Minneapolis) but the tone is hopeful overall. Despite some of the strange situations the characters feel grounded and real, and their conversations gave me lots of food for thought. I did think some of the stuff with the niece felt a bit unnecessary but overall fantastic book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Police brutality, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Gun violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Animal death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Genocide, and Rape

This book deals with the events of 2020 (particularly the pandemic and the George Floyd protests) in significant detail. There are also several scenes involving the mistreatment of human remains that I'm not sure how to warn for.

prettycloud's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

This book feels like the pandemic: just when you think you've found the rhythms of normal life, you feel the uncertainty as threads come loose bit by bit until the whole thing unravels. It's a powerful look at the way that unraveling gave people in the US a new understanding of our own complacency, caused people to question the facts of life we'd come to accept. The energy that flowed into anti-racism work in that summer of 2020 feels vibrant and real in this book without being too trite. And it does not shy away from the nuances of systemic and interpersonal racism!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Police brutality, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, and Sexual content

Minor: Colonisation, War, and Racism

This book addresses the horrors of colonialism and historic wrongs, but it doesn't twist the knife or delight in violence. The characters in the present experience common experiences during the first year of COVID, from generalized pandemic anxiety to

police violence and hospitalization from the virus

. The main character had previously endured police and other violence during her incarceration, which she describes in the beginning of the book and which forms part of a later conflict. No one in the present tense of the book abuses drugs or alcohol, but the main character's mom was an addict and neglected her, and she does describe this.

ange_'s review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, and Police brutality

Minor: Slavery, Racism, and Cultural appropriation