Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

38 reviews

catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Abortion, and War

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

eve81's review

dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder

katie_morris's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wanderingtones's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• 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: Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Suicide, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, and Torture

m_papaya's review

4.0

Bleak, violent, read in one sitting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Bullying

Minor: Islamophobia

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

seasonedreadings's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

ezahn17's review

dark emotional funny reflective slow-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

“Black Mirror” read-alike.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

sonja_mueller's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

 Friday Black is a good book. Some stories are 5 star reads, some are 3 stars mainly because they feel repetitive.
But the last story made it to a not recommendable book for me and also dropped my all over all enjoyment of the book to the bottom. The amount of explicit violence is disturbing and I truly believe that same story would have worked as well if the terror would have been described only indirectly. It would have been fine and also maybe more impactful if the terror that happened (caused by Ama and Carl) would have been left to the readers imagination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence