Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

45 reviews

briannad4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual content

corriejn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Rape, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Racism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Self harm, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Colonisation, Addiction, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Minor: Religious bigotry and Police brutality

k_dubzy's review

challenging hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I still, a week after finishing this book, am at somewhat of a loss for words. I feel like any review I give this book will not do it justice. It's absolutely brilliant.

I would recommend this book to anyone except those who have no desire to become more familiar the legacy of slavery in the United States. For those people, I'd place it at the top of their required reading list.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Racism

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual assault

ruffian23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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: Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Classism, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Addiction, Child death, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

syellico's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book is an undertaking. I read it with a group over 3 months as a slow and steady which I know affected my experience. Prolonging some of the absolutely horrible subject matter probably made it an even more difficult read than it is. 
In the end, I was just ready to be done and I probably missed some impact because of it. 
For me, it was just too long and I never was able to completely keep track of the multitude of characters. Major trigger warnings abound.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

ryanbada's review

challenging emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Death, Drug use, Slavery, Sexual content, Addiction, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Miscarriage

satashii's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This is one of those books that you probably should read because of how informative and in-your—face it is about uncomfortable things—the black experience in Georgia going back to the 1600s when the land was occupied by the Creek. It’s informative but also heart breaking in so many ways.

So why such a low rating? 

Because this is a book that, imo, needed an editor to make it a tighter story.  There’s a good 200 pages of this book that make the story drag on and on.  If I hadn’t already hit the halfway point when it really started to slow it’s momentum I’d probably would have DNF’d it but I slogged ahead determined to finish. 

Was the end worth it?  Yes.  Did I think the main character Ailey had an effective character arc?  Somewhat. 

I really struggled with Ailey being the spoiled younger daughter that wasn’t really growing up/maturing.  While I was sympathetic to Lydia’s death and how devastating it was for her, she could be a selfish brat for the middle third of this book that was not endearing her to me.  Her relationships with men and how toxic they were I felt distracted a lot from the other parts of the narrative and the back and forth between present and past didn’t always feel like it was integrating well.  Tbh I would have probably been more interested in seeing Coco’s viewpoint rather than Lydia’s drug spiral.   In the end, I wasn’t wholly satisfied by Ailey’s relationship choices other than I did like that she seemed to be ending up with David at the end.

So subtracting one star for the need for editing and another half star for what felt like, to me, like gratuitous lingering on sex scenes that weren’t really driving the narrative further and felt distracting. 

Overall, I’d recommend it as a read if you haven’t read Toni Morrison’s  work or Octavia Butler’s Kindred… but I’d probably recommend them over this book.   
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Slavery, Racial slurs, Rape, Drug abuse, Racism, Grief, Addiction, Body shaming, Body horror, and Child abuse

deereadingwallflower's review

emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Child abuse, Grief, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Slavery

robinsharma's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is immense. Not only is it 800 pages, but it was historically detailed with many characters and a lot of heavy content. I am extremely impressed by the author, and can understand why it took 12 years to write. There were sections of this book I loved, and some that read too much like a textbook. The middle of the book was the most impactful for me. The ending came full circle but left me unfulfilled. Maybe if I had the time to read it in a few days, it would have impacted me more. But this beast was the longest book I’ve ever read, and it took me a month to do it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Slavery