Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

8 reviews

katharina90's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I love stories that makes me deeply uncomfortable and this collection delivered. 

Many of the stories evoked visceral emotions as racism, capitalism & co were explored in dystopian settings that felt all too real. As with Chain-Gang All-Stars, the world building was so disturbing because it's just a step or two away from our current reality.

The quality of this short story collection was fairly consistent throughout, and I enjoyed almost every story which is rare for me. I'm not even gonna try to pick favorites. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Suicide, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer and War

sarahmackenziey's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse

cheazcakeguy's review

challenging dark funny reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

This is a collection of short speculative fiction. There is a decent amount of variety, but there are a few stories that tackle similar themes/topics, especially consumerism and racism. Many of the stories are set in a world similar to our own, where one or more aspects of our own world have been exaggerated to the point of absurdity. As a result, the stories often have an extremely dark sense of humor and expose the absurdity inherent in real-world concepts like racism, violence, consumerism, and truth. Some of the stories have a different tone, but I never quite felt the emotional weight behind the ones with a more pensive, poignant feel. To me, the writing was much better at evoking feelings of rage, shock, despair, and defiance than sadness or regret.

Some stories were more interesting than others. A couple were a bit dull, but my favorites were the ones that really leaned in to the ridiculousness. I especially liked The Finkelstein 5, Friday Black, Zimmer Land, and Through the Flash. Nothing really blew me away, but this book was certainly unique and unexpected. Overall, this is a pretty thought-provoking, well-written collection of stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Police brutality

kananineko's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and War

jdamae11's review

challenging dark funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and War

tey_lynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

emily_mh's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Cannibalism, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Lynching, colourism, loss of a loved one (including a child), eugenics, menstruation, trampling, sick parent, homophobic slur, nuclear bombing

booksthatburn's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

FRIDAY BLACK is a finely constructed collection of stories which range from simply invoking a certain kind of Black and American existence, to ones where the premise is inextricable from the intersection of these identities. 

Some of them have not literally happened but feel like they could if reality got just a little bit worse (or, more awfully, like they’re already here). Others are more speculative, requiring some shift in reality in order to be plausible, or being altogether impossible. In all of them, the relevant social and existential rules are deftly conveyed to build tiny pockets of a different space, in which a story is told that believes its own premise unabashedly and wholeheartedly. 

Three of the stories have a shared underlying reality, but I’m not certain whether the others are meant to be connected with them or not. None of the premises are mutually exclusive, but a few would definitely be oddly paired if they canonically coexist. My favorites are “Zimmer Land” (for the way it shows the precarious position of a marginalized employee in a job which objectifies his existence even as it exploits his identity), Friday Black” (for making shopping feel like a zombie story), and “Through the Flash” (for unflinchingly capturing the potential and inevitability of brutality in a certain kind of time loop).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy