Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

29 reviews

pizzaisjesus98's review

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dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75


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walrus420's review

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

5.0


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book_cave_ghost_girl's review

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adventurous dark emotional fast-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

5.0

A beyond-fiery indictment of everyday and institutional racism and how it pushes ordinary people to extremes, like a bucket of ice water on your face

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vigil's review

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dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0


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enzoisprettycool's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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_egg_wash's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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emilineopines's review

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75


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bookish_slagathor's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

This book was damn brilliant! I’ve got no words how amazing it was, I just wish it was longer and had more story.

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billyjepma's review

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Intoxicatingly excellent. In barely a 100 pages, LaValle tells a story that upends the grotesque xenophobia of H.P. Lovecraft and exposes how real evil isn’t found in the cosmic unknown, but in the very known prejudices and violences American society uses against its own people. 

This isn’t a horror story, at least not in the traditional means, but it is a horrifying story. The Lovecraftian elements are fantastically unsettling, and are easily elevated by LaValle’s crisp, humanistic, almost poetic writing style. It’s that writing that makes the all-too-familiar racism and violence—spearheaded by society’s elite, the police force, and the foundation of our country— cut so deep, too. I wish the it had a little more meat to it, because there’s so much left to mine, but I can’t wait to read a helluva lot more of LaValle’s work. 

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orangesquidbooks's review against another edition

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

4.0

A reimagining of Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook” - this cosmic horror novella takes place in 1920s Harlem.

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