Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

El ferrocarril subterráneo by Colson Whitehead

23 reviews

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.5

reading others' reviews helped me verbalize some of the weaker points of the book i didn't have time to verbalize bc i was so hooked on seeing how this all panned out. thus, i dropped my official rating to a 4/5 (but on storygraph i'm giving it a 4.5/5).

i'm rating this book higher than a 4 bc i can't deny that this was the first time in a while i've been absorbed into a fictional narrative. for the most part, i enjoyed the pacing, and when things became stagnant, i enjoyed the flashbacks to other characters' plots; i think it helped me to care about the characters other than in Cora and to tie up loose ends.

i agree with others in that there could've been more done with the actual railroad, as it's the title of the book. i also personally got lost a bit in the wording as well as the names of the side characters; i couldn't remember if someone was white or black as slaves obviously were given anglo names, but the author would name drop people from the past and i'd just gloss over it bc i couldn't remember their storyline.

i think it's overall a really captivating, well-researched book. you can tell the author took a lot of time with this story. it's hard to read as any slave narrative would be, so it requires a lot of attention, but i'm glad i read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

mari_ne's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

I recently watched a YouTube video explaining the grimdark genre. The video described the origin of the genre, Warhammer. But I wonder—what could be a better indication of grimdark than the gruesome horrors and cruelties visited upon enslaved Black people in the United States? I'd consider this

(very nearly)

part of that genre.

Note: the book doesn't go into more detail than is needed, so I wouldn't consider it trauma porn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol