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lisesenb's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism
a1exander's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Excrement, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
penofpossibilities's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Slavery and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gun violence and Miscarriage
mikarala's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
But again, that's kind of the point. This isn't supposed to be an easy read. It's horrifying, but it's meant to be because Morrison wants to depict how intergenerational trauma and internalized racism have affected the Black community. So for that reason, I found this hard to rate. In terms of getting its message across, I give this book 5 stars. But I just hated this experience of reading this so much (seriously, watch out for all the content warnings) that I can't really rate it higher.
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment
Moderate: Suicide and Excrement
bennybooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, and Abandonment
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Sexism, Excrement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
booksjessreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was not what I was fully expecting, and I think this made me appreciate it more. Told from multiple points of view and through a seasonal perspective of the events Pecola ensures, it details the complexity of the ways in which beauty, culture, poverty, colourism and sexism intertwine.
I think the things that have completely astounded me about this novel is its purpose and its language. What I love about this, is that Morrison tells the story in a structured way, allowing us to understand the psychological motivations and histories of the characters. She shows us that the characters should not be excused for their behaviour, but simply showing us what made the characters the way that they are. In her forward and afterword, Morrison mentions how she wanted to fragment the chapters into different perspectives, seasons etc. and allow the reader to piece the story together. Whilst she looks in retrospect and felt this didn't work for the novel, I think it works well and made the novel effective.
This novel is short but it is packed with so much heavy content. It is beautifully written - each sentence flows into one another. I don't think I have read lyrical writing quite like this. There is a lot that is packed into its 212 pages, but I appreciated every page and the story and messages told through her work. I am highly anticipated her other novels and am eager to get into them.
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
lizziaha's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Excrement, and Abandonment
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Foreward of the book sets the tone by starting with the following, "There can't be anyone, I am sure, who doesn't know what it feels like to be disliked, even rejected, momentarily or for sustained periods of time. Perhaps the feeling is merely indifference, mild annoyance, but it may also be hurt. It may even be that some of us know what it is like to be actually hated - hated for things we have no control over and cannot change."
The primary individual in the story, the one with a common thread throughout, is eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. She's a demure child already broken down by a harsh life of indifferent parents and the taunts of too many bullies, sometimes school children and sometimes family. The most common and reliable narrator in the book is eight-year-old Claudia MacTeer. She and her twelve-year-old sister, Frieda, are as true of friends to Pecola as anyone in her life will be. The story is set in a time right after the Great Depression, as the country is recovering. Claudia shares how her and Frieda's life is comfortable, and they live in a sometimes harsh, but happy and stable home. One day Pecola enters their life and from this point the reader learns about other characters with Claudia as the narrator or via third person narrative with inset narratives, resulting in differing people's experiences at differing points in time. These inset first person narratives give the reader more of the backstory, or formative years, for various characters in the story. I thought this was a great way to create an immersive experience for the reader.
This book deals with many heavy subjects, and chief among them is how young Pecola was dealt a very bad hand in life and ended up accepting as truth that her life was of little value because of the way she was talked to, talked about, treated, and mistreated. Pecola's idea of a perfect life was associated with whiteness and having blue eyes, so maybe if she had blue eyes, she could escape her painful life.
This book really feels like it's a story you're hearing from some intelligent but cautious children living in a complex world where they understand a lot more than you want to believe children that age should know. They're self-sufficient because they have to be and, in many ways, this makes them able to survive the hazards and ugly truth that comes into their lives. While there are really rough edges to this story, the resilience of child narrator Claudia helps make it easier to digest when some characters in the book do not get a happy ending.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Classism
vanesst's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol