Reviews with content warning for Torture - Friday Black

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

31 reviews

mcnan's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

What an incredible collection. Adjei-Brenyah's work is poignant, sharp, insightful, and simultaneously upsetting and exciting. I was always looking forward to reading more. None of these are weak stories, but my particular favorites were Through the Flash and The Hospital Where. Content warnings are not complete but mention some.

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sarahmackenziey's review

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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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shainabriley's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

This book was not for me, but that's my own fault as i didn't seek out any information about the content warnings for this book. It was really well-written, and vivid in detail though! Some of the stories i liked vetter than others, but even when i didn't lile a particular story, it was still worth listening to.

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cheazcakeguy's review

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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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