Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Native Son by Richard Wright

16 reviews

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

dustghosts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Gore, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

eengland's review

dark 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

5.0

Not an easy read, but well done on all aspects. First half is B R U T A L. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, Gore, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

all1thegr8's review

medium-paced

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

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyed, think everyone should read. Interesting existential themes & commentary on American society. So much going on, will carry this book with me for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Murder, Violence, and Sexual violence

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

Certainly worth a read given the impact of the book and author in black literature especially American and how obvious the book and Wright is in conversation with Camus but it’s a very heavy and depressing read that being in the mind of not even Bigger but Wright’s beliefs gave me a lot of despair about the world and the US in particular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Sexual content, Racism, and Antisemitism

nonfictionfeminist's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Bullying, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

laurbubbles's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Gore, Murder, Blood, Racism, Racial slurs, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

hleary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Rape

Minor: Classism and Alcohol

michaelion's review

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Dear StoryGraph, I implore you, please add a trigger tag specifically for misogynoir, because it's disgusting how much of it is in this book.

The choice to open the book with Bigger killing a rat, then terrorizing his sister to the point where she faints and he laughs about it is mild foreshadowing of what's to come. Also, unrelated to the opening scene, there's something poetic about everything black men fear about being caught doing with a white woman, they do to Black women. Justice4Bessie!

If you're planning on reading this, brace yourself. In my edition, there was an excerpt where Wright tells the readers of a book club that the first draft of this book was 576 pages. Which actually makes me like this book less, because it could've easily been 200 pages shorter and been a tighter, sharper, better story. It was a drag to get through reading. In the third section of the book alone, one character monologues for 23 pages with no breaks. After a certain point you simply have to start skimming. But, I promise, you're not missing much.

I gave this rating an extra .25 for Jan and Max. It sucks that the characters I like most were the not-like-the-others whites!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Classism, and Death

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, and Blood

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Blood, Classism, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Misogyny