Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

40 reviews

sleeson's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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

I have nowhere to start. The novel's pages are soaked in heartbreak, determination, love, and heroism. I could go on and on about this novel. 
Sadeqa Johnson's characterization for the role of each person is gracefully and carefully thought out. Her story will have you latching on to each moment Pheby's journey.
Our hero Pheby is unquestionably the strongest figure in the novel. The sacrifices she makes for everyone she meets, is due to her unconditional love for others. Strong language and Graphic sexual content alluded. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Excrement, Grief, Sexual assault, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Classism, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Rape

butle2em's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.0

This book is a graphic depiction for what life was like for enslaved people. It took me a long time to read through it because I needed time to process the torture depicted between the pages. While this book is uncomfortable and horrifying, I think it is important that white people read responsibly written slave narratives (eg researched, historically factual, written by Black authors) in order to consider the world we inherited and our responsibility in changing that world for the better. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Gore, Violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Vomit

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Trafficking, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Excrement, Infidelity, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

kibbles15's review against another edition

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

4.0

This is a hard book to read. It goes into great detail about what the female slave (Main character) has to deal with throughout her life.  If you are not prepared to get immersed into the horrors of slavery, I would suggest not reading this book.  If you can handle it, this book is eye opening and should be, in my opinion, be read at least once by every adult.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Rape, Excrement, Slavery, Torture, Sexual content, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Child death, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Intense detail about the horrors of slavery and the experiences of a female slave.

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

 As an avid reader of historical fiction, I'd heard of this book several times, but only just recently got around to reading it. I want to say that I'm glad to have finally read it, except that I don't know if glad is the right expression for this book. Yellow Wife is the story of a biracial woman who is sold off to the owner of an infamous slave prison. He is taken with her beauty and whit and essentially forces her to marry him. What follows is the story of her life.

This book is a masterwork in historical fiction. It is inspired by a true story, but is a fictionalized account. Johnson does such a phenomenal job of making her characters real and creating a story that will haunt readers well after they put the book down. Some of that is due to the horrific scenes she creates to instill in the reader the unflinching truth about the inhumanity of slavery and some of that is due to the main character, Pheby, who makes impossible choice after impossible choice.

One thing in particular that takes a lot of skill in writing about brutality like slavery is finding the balance between creating horrific scenes that show the experiences of the victims and not making it so brutal that your readers stop reading. While this story definitely has some extraordinarily difficult scenes and Johnson is very detailed in her writing, I did feel that the brutal scenes she wrote about had a specific purpose both within the story and in the larger picture of remembering the atrocity that was slavery. It was brutal, but not gratuitous.

And I found myself so relentlessly rooting for Pheby. Every time you wonder how she could ever possibly keep going, she finds ways to endure. She is such a tough, strong, and eventually selfless character who struggles with the morality of what she has to do daily to survive. In the bleakest parts of this book, I kept reading because I just had to know what happened to Pheby in the end.

All in all, this is a well-written historical fiction about some of the unknown bits of slavery. It's about how women specifically were victimized and the ways that they overcame and continued to survive. I would definitely recommend reading the trigger warnings on this book before reading, but I unequivocally would recommend reading this too.

Trigger Warnings: Rape, Sexual Assault, Forced Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Torture, Whipping, Mutilation, Starvation, Sexual Slavery, Sex Trafficking, Severe Injury, Illness, Death, Infanticide, Slavery, Public Humiliation

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Sexual assault, Classism, Confinement, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

seph268's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

it’s a very heavy book. it was really hard for me to finish. the ending was lackluster, it didn’t really balance out the heaviness of the novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Gore, Excrement, Blood, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Death, Trafficking, Murder, Grief, Rape, and Child abuse

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Slavery, Vomit, Child death, Rape, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Excrement, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, War, and Mental illness

loripopp's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Slavery, Excrement, Death of parent, Classism, Vomit, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Confinement, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Child death

hannahglenn's review against another edition

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Torture, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Excrement, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Confinement, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

tmickey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Racial slurs, Child death, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Racism, Rape, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Vomit, Excrement, and Blood

Minor: War and Adult/minor relationship