Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

9 reviews

ladyinverse's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

this was such a harrowing read but my goodness it was worth every minute. Pheby went through absolute hell and still found courage to keep her kids safe.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Pregnancy, Violence, Trafficking, Racism, Torture, Racial slurs, and Toxic relationship

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

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

lexieellis13's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Sexual assault, Confinement, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: War

psitstorrie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Sexual assault, Slavery, Racial slurs, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, and Toxic relationship

aargot1's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Death, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

zormal815's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and War

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and War

Minor: Animal death

inhale_exhale_read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

 Wow, this was brutal at times to read (trigger warnings for just about everything), but it was such an incredible story. I kind of wish that I had read the Author's Note first, instead of at the end, because she talks about the true stories that inspired her writing and how she started researching. This book was fast-paced with incredibly well-developed characters and a world that is described with such meticulous detail that you will be surprised when you look up from your book and realize you are actually just sitting in your living room. Even though it is painful at times to read, the stories of these characters are so, so important. I would love it if the author would turn this into a multi-generational series. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Infidelity, and Misogyny