Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

11 reviews

xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A brilliant surrealist, satirical exploration of racial suffering, resistance, consumerism and economic materialism. I'm looking forward to picking up Chain-Gang All Stars after this experience. 

The Finkelstein 5 - 4.5 stars

Things My Mother Said - 4.25 stars

The Era - 4.5 stars

Lark Street - 4 stars

The Hospital Where - 4.25 stars

Zimmer Land - 4.75 stars

Black Friday - 5 Stars

The Lion & The Spider - 4 stars

Light Spitter - 4.25 stars

In Retail - 3.75 stars

Through The Flash - 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Gun violence, Child death, Child abuse, Violence, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

storielore's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Death, Animal death, Mass/school shootings, and Child death

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

emory's review

challenging dark reflective tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abortion, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Gun violence

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

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

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

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

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

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

adamnoel's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• 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

I really enjoyed this book. Some stories sincerely left me breathless. Obviously, they're horror stories, but this was horror not meant to scare the reader, but to leave them truly horrified. More than one story left me anxious, almost nauseated as I contemplated them. More than once, I finished the story and had to put the book down and recoup before starting the next. Adjei-Brenyah wonderfully executed what he set out to do, and I look forward to reading his next release. However, not all stories were as strong as others, sometimes by a wide margin. A few left me mystified as to what the point even was. I suppose they could've been grotesque for the sake of it (which is a valid form of horror, don't get me wrong) but in a book that was so clearly centered on social/political commentary and metaphors that beg you to ponder them later, I felt like some were out of place. But overall, I was really impressed, and what few stories I didn't like were outweighed tenfold by how much I enjoyed the others. Adjei-Brenyah has a really intriguing style and his creativity is intense. Definitely give this book a try if you're on the fence about it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abortion, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, Mental illness, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Gore

hpfan9501's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death

whatevertheysay's review

• Strong character development? No

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism

danteandvirgil's review

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A strong collection of short stories. Characters all seem to be dealing with grief in some form, be it a person now lost, a life once lived, an emotion once felt. My favorites include "The Hospital Where" and "Through the Flash". 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death