Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

53 reviews

aschmitttyy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

This book follows the story of a female main character, told through a recording to her children after she passes away. This woman has lived 4 lives, and up until this point, her children only know about one of them. It's a story about a child from the Caribbean who escapes the island to create a better life for herself, death, rebirth, family and friendship, unwanted pregnancy, adoption, all wrapped up with racial issues that drive most of the plot. It was a slow start, but in the end, I really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, and Abandonment

Minor: Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Murder, and Rape

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

This is the story of a Caribbean woman and her family. Her life was full of secrets and mysteries and her children knew nothing about it until her death. Her children come together with their mother’s lawyer to listen to a tape their mother made telling them her whole story from a child of the Caribbean to a mother in California and all of her adventures in between. This book started out a little slow for me, but by the end when all of the puzzle pieces clicked in place, I really enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Rape, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

ohheyash's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I enjoyed reading Black Cake. I was a mystery, with love, and hardships. I was also glad that it ended with all my questions answered. If you’re looking for an engaging story; especially if you’re in a reading slump, I’d recommend reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Cancer, Grief, and Suicide attempt

leeannt519's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Addiction, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault

dwiparto's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

Minor: Rape and Murder

beate251's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

This is a book about secrets and forgiveness.

I have first encountered this story as an eight part Disney+ series. Now that I finally got round to reading the book it's based on I can see why some people have problems with the narrative. It feels a lot more disjointed than the series, with a constant back and forth and introduction of seemingly random characters who turn out to be someone we didn't expect. You'll just have to accept that there's a big cast, and we're following them all.

The book deals with a lot of difficult topics (my content warnings are probably longer than my review!) and it sometimes feels like it's too many, even though some, like the rape, are barely mentioned. The TV show fleshes the time in Edinburgh out a lot more.

The writing is beautiful but I would really recommend the Disney+ series - it makes the book a lot easier to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Biphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Cancer

kyriannaj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death of parent, and Hate crime

Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Sexism, Racism, Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Blood, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

erinoconnor's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

A story of generational trauma with love at the center. It’s delicious and painful and almost like peeking into vignetted moments in these characters lives. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Grief, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Sexism, Alcoholism, Death, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Biphobia

happyblkhippie's review against another edition

Ugh I really wanted to like and finish this but the story was all over the place. I didn't know who's was who, or what's going on. Are we in present or in the past. 

The story just moved too slow for me. I read 40% before dnf'g. I struggled to get through the part I did read. It was boring and confusing. I'm not one to "push through" and waste my time on a book I choose to voluntarily read if I don't like it. I typically only give books about 25% before moving on so I was very generous with this one. 

I think the story was probably heading in a good direction, but just took too long to get there. I also didn't care for the writing style. It was too many characters that didn't add to the story and not enough important information to move the story forward. I listened to this on Audible and didn't care for the narrator either. Overall an interesting storyline but poor execution in my opinion. I would give it a 3.25 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Abandonment, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Racism, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence