Reviews tagging 'Murder'

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

88 reviews

lattelibrarian's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.75

I picked this book for my discussion group and I'm excited to see what they have to say about it. It's unlike much of what we've read: it features multiple perspectives, the characters are complicated in an obvious way, and there's no easy resolution. Then again, it is also similar to what we've read in that it discusses difficult themes such as abuse, intergenerational trauma, and grief. 

This book is a small slice of life after Adan kills a wealthy white man and his own daughter (though he won't admit to the latter). Lala, his wife and main character, must reckon with this while also understanding that she can no longer lay low or suffer his abuse. Her story is framed by that of the one-armed sister, who went into a tunnel when she wasn't supposed to and came out with one arm. Lala wonders why this tale is cautionary: the one-armed sister can still cook and clean, though it might be more difficult. Her grandmother Wilma retorts, how is she going to sweep her house? Well, this story explains how.

Lala went into her own tunnel and married Adan. Though he does physically harm her, but not to the extent of her losing her arm, she is totally restrained. He steals her money, he silences her, he traumatizes her. She is no longer, metaphorically speaking, a complete woman. Something about her has been lost along the way, and it's all thanks to Adan. And, of course, it's Adan who goes into the tunnels and he, until the end, remains unharmed.

We are also privy to their history: how Lala and Adan grew up, how Adan doesn't know that Lala and his best friend Tone know each other from childhood, how Lala's mother died. The stories weave together to create a scenic yet terrifying backdrop of how they came to be.

I so wished for Adan to be punished. I wanted the police officer to solve the case. I wanted Mira to have her justice. But books like these don't give us a neat ending. Instead, they give us a new beginning.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, and Child death

mangopanels's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

littlepepperguy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

Definitely sad, for sure be ready for something heavy and real. A really intricately weaved story of  interconnecting people with seemingly little in common other than a man making a victim of them (specifically one man but also men in general). Deals with the struggles of patriarchy and the fact that no one thrives within the suffocating environment of white supremacist western colonial patriarchy, not even the men, especially not the men of color in 1970's Barbados within the novel. Although it is set in the past and a window to how that specific time and place and those specific women were affected, it is a great allegory for how women are deeply affected by gender roles and abuse. Very intersectional and again super depressing. I'm white and was socialized as a woman and I think it is of utmost importance to read novels that show the difference in treatment between white woman and women of color. Intersectionality bb.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Grief, Classism, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Death, Sexism, Child death, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Infertility

monstar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

chyina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Rape, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Murder

hazelloretta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, and Sexual violence

rebel_elleiance_reads's review against another edition

This is a five star DNF. The narrator is my favorite ever. She understood the assignment and brings to life the characters and setting like no one I’ve listened to. The beauty of the writing gets buried in the darkness of the material. The prose are gorgeous but the storyline is despair piled on unrelenting tragedy of generational trauma and violence. It is almost hyper-realistic horror. I just got to the point where I couldn’t be in that dark place anymore listening to the emotional and physical torture of nearly all the characters without getting dragged to a dark place myself. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Murder, Rape, Violence, Incest, and Child death

196books's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.25

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps her House is a novel about the violence inflicted on women by the men in their lives. You know going in that it’s going to be a tough read, but boy does Jones throw everything she’s got at you. The sheer, unending misery of the lives of these women was what made me struggle through it, but at the same time what makes it an important read. Jones states in her afterword that she wrote it to highlight the situation lots of women in Barbados find themselves in, trapped in cycles of violence, unable to see another option for themselves but to stay by the side of their abuser. The story is so driven by acts of violence (literally every bad thing you could think of that could happen to a woman) that I trudged through it, wary of whatever horror lay in the next chapter.
.
I did love the way the story stripped back the layers of Barbados - to white western tourists, the name evokes a tropical paradise, but Jones depicts the everyday lives and cruelties of the folks who live there. If you enjoyed that aspect of Eve Out of Her Ruins (I prefer that one to this), then you might appreciate this one too!
.
A tough read that I’m glad I read for its exposé of violence against women in Barbados, but it will leave you exhausted. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Racism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Incest, Violence, and Sexual violence

dianakamau's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Infertility, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Confinement