Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

33 reviews

nana_sillylilbooks's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Roxanne Gay is quoted in Friday Black as saying if you like This is America [by Childish Gambino] youlll love Friday Black. I second this and raise it with a if you enjoy Jordan Peele movies or Black Mirror you’ll love it too.

This collection is electric and genuinely one of the most start to finish enjoyable, thought provoking and honestly quite disheartening, short story collections i’ve read in maybe years.

I fell in love with Nana Kwame about 3 stories in and am thrilled to already have his next novel on hand.

Dystopian , aware and insightful. My only ‘thoughts’ would be that it started off with such fireworks in  The Finklestein 5 and maybe we had a few too many on the consumerism theme later on but these are so minor because that being said I still loved 95% of the stories which is unheard of.

If Nana Kwame has no fans that means im no longer on earth…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Racism

bookedbymadeline's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I was pulled in by the first story but there were a few afterwards that were just okay or I had no idea what was going on. I almost DNFd but the stories become more interesting again/less confusing and pulled me back 😁

Overall a dark and interesting read where I liked more stories than didn’t. It’s well written and uniquely told. Highly recommend for any horror or dystopian/speculative fiction fans!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Mass/school shootings, and Abortion

Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, and Cannibalism

aubrey_cody's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Gripping. Gory. Immersive. Thought provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Torture, Abortion, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Racism, Murder, and Xenophobia

lyssalandart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

hnagarne's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Abortion, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Violence, Death, Suicide, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Torture

jessthanthree's review

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Abortion, Police brutality, Death, Violence, Racism, Ableism, Suicide, Hate crime, Murder, Grief, and Child death

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Racial slurs

sarah984's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.5

Some of the stories in this collection were phenomenal, visceral writing - speculative fiction at its very best - but the rest varied between forgettable and downright bad. I would say it's worth it for the good ones.

Favourites: Through the Flash, Zimmer Land, Friday Black, The Finkelstein Five

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Child death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Ableism, Abortion, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide

Minor: Classism, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

ynotlime's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Violence

j_m_alexander's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

 Biting, gut-punching short stories that are frighteningly sad and darkly humorous at times. Like all short story collections, this collection is a bit of a mixed bag, some nearly perfect, others falling a slightly short by comparison. The collection started and finished particularly strong - that first short story was a haunting and powerful statement to start with, the final story while similarly startling finished with more of a lingering bitter-sweetness; truly perfect choices to book-end the collection. There were a few others in the latter half that I felt really built on one another in a way I really liked as well. Adjei-Brenyah makes an undeniable impact in a short amount of pages/words, leaning toward dystopian of the rather violent variety. Not every story hits quite a perfect balance but when they do, it's a real triumph and will keep you thinking about them long afterward.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child death, Cursing, Mass/school shootings, Death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, and Racism

bay22's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Medical content, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Police brutality, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Ableism, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Addiction, and Child abuse

Minor: Eating disorder and Fatphobia