Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

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

35 reviews

potion96's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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

This was an epic. Carefully crafted and perfectly executed. I think it’s quite possibly the most incredible book I’ve ever read. I’m really speechless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Racism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Infidelity, Slavery, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, and Child 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

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

3littlewordz's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

 “Even in a place of sorrow, time passes. Even in a place of joy." And so passes time in the Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. 

This book was perfect. Simply incredibly perfect. I’ve seen people in the book-osphere that have mentioned wanting to be able to read a book again for the first time, and this is one of those books. I already know that this epic novel is one of my top reads of all time. Yes, I’ve already called it. 

So many themes were explored in the centuries covered in this storyline: slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people, sexual assault/incest, casual racism and racial terror, colorism (including passing), distrust, family secrets, drug addiction, segregation, life at an HBCU vs. PWI, the journey through academia as a black person…so many more. Another throughline explored beautifully was the Black American’s relationship to food, and how it could be both soothing and harmful. And of course, Du Bois!! His pen is razor-sharp and I absolutely love how the quotes at the beginning of each Song were so superbly chosen for that portion of the book. Ultimately, the strong family bonds wrapped me up like a warm, cozy blanket, even when the family dealt with strife and pain. 

Now, there are SEVERAL triggers in this book, and several themes mentioned above are explored in rather explicit detail. If you haven't yet started on the path to healing for those triggers (mainly sexual assault and abuse), some parts of this story may be too heavy for you. I finished some chapters and had to close my eyes and decompress. 

Jeffers' writing style is exquisite. I particularly enjoyed the historical anchors (beyond simple dates) included throughout the novel that oriented me to time and place. It's easy to tell that she's a poet by the phrasing and descriptions used throughout. Her world-building was so expansive and wonderfully done that I blinked and devoured 50-100 pages at a time. I actually read all except the very first chapter in 8 days - I didn't mind reading all 800 pages quickly! 

Simply put, read this book. And if you’ve already read this and are equally as enamored with this type of story as I am, I strongly recommend Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Abortion, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Genocide, Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy

roasjeno's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Beautiful. Lyrical. Truly a masterpiece. Jeffers paints each character with such fine detail to convey these were and are real people; she challenges us to feel empathy for people we have been told are the past. I personally love intergenerational family sagas, and especially appreciated how these tales were woven into our main character’s research, as if we were following along with the author Jeffers as she researched for this novel. I’d say that this book is comparable in its scope and (potential) influence to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Márquez.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Pregnancy, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexism, Racial slurs, Grief, Hate crime, Drug use, Colonisation, Murder, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, and Child death

qqjj's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Abortion, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Drug abuse, Child death, and Violence

taibreakfast's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

I recommend buying a physical copy to read, if you can. It is long and I wish I had done that so I could steadily read it, instead of being at the mercy of the library. Also it goes back and forth between different characters, generations, and time periods, and it would have been helpful to be able to easily refer to the family tree. Obviously can in an eReader but just easier with a book.

Notes on medium aside, a must read if you can, although do check out the content warnings, there are many.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Violence, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Suicide, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Alcohol, and Death of parent

gems_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Racial slurs, Drug use, Grief, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

chaptersbydani's review

dark emotional informative reflective

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Pregnancy, Rape, Death of parent, Murder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

kirkspockreads's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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: Rape, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Slavery, Death of parent, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts