Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Himmel und Hölle by Malorie Blackman

16 reviews

reggiereading's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.0

great book, i really liked it, but just dwel on this for a moment:
he's 15, she's 13/14.
(timeskip)
he's 19, she's 17.
i have no doubt that they do care about each other and their relationship is real but i just cringe when i think about it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Death, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Rape, and Suicide

drjosh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Alcohol, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Minor: Kidnapping

bloodmaarked's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.5

honey what in the hell was this? this is not the book i remember reading as a kid

✧ full review on my tumblr ✧

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Racism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Gun violence, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, and Police brutality

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Blood, and Colonisation

keelan's review against another edition

challenging inspiring medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, and Hate crime

emmagalt'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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Classism, Hate crime, Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Racism, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

whitenoise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Abortion, Suicide, and Bullying

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Classism, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Police brutality, Slavery, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Vomit

bethtrigg's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Abortion, Police brutality, Death, Mental illness, and Racism

epellicci's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I can see where the praise for this book comes from. As a way to introduce a younger audience to racism, privilege and unjust societal structures, it is straight to the point. Potentially a revelation, happening among a setting with characters who still have problems a younger audience can relate to, like homework and complicated feelings for your friends. However, I did not enjoy the book. 

Every relationship was so aggressive, often times to the point of physical violence. There wasn't a single healthy, consistently loving family or friendship. Combined with a plot which never let up on anyone, it made for unlikable characters. I didn't believe in  the main couples on again/off again romance, which lacked any tenderness. Blackman consistently gave us the narrative that they hated one another, their "love" felt based entirely on guilt and familiarity. On top of this, I felt that in an attempt to make the message apparent to the young teen audience, all the nuance had been stripped from the plot. There was no subtlety, which I found killed the atmosphere. While I can totally appreciate what it was trying to do, it fell really flat for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Bullying, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Murder

karol99's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very YA and not in the best way. I didn't really like the writing. I was very frustrated with the characters, but I think that's due to the fact that the miscommunication trope is a pet-peeve of mine. They were very young for most of te book, which reflected in the writing- I am not a teen, and therefore might have read this too late as I am not the correct demographic anymore. Concept and idea of the book is very interesting, and enjoyed the book tackling race issues that are ignored and engraved into society today, and have become deeply systemic. But what took me out of it was the YA Cons vs the pros. I think think the way the book is written is very much a product of it's time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Hate crime, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Physical abuse, Suicide, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit

laurataylor's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Suicide, and Violence