Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

48 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

smittonwith's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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? No

5.0

“Black Cake” is everything that everyone has said it is! This is a great read that is heavy with heritage, identity, self-discovery, escaping and family. “Black Cake” is a beautifully woven story about a girl becoming a woman and the impacts that follow. “Black Cake” explores the depth of West Indies Culture and the journeys that Eleanor Bennett goes on. This story is well thought out with careful world building and pristine character mapping. This is a beautiful and emotional love story of a woman and her life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Violence

zara89's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Rape, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

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

bookwormcat's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Racism, Death of parent, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Biphobia, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

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

thissagreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

This book was so good!!! I couldn’t put it down- the twists were nice- but I loved reading the mother Eleanor’s past, and loved that she told it through an 8 hour recording.

Eleanor’s real name is Covey but after fleeing the Caribbean island she was from, the book tells us how she became Eleanor, why she had to flee her island, and that they have an older sister (from rape unfortunately.

The perspective and storytelling was RICH and engaging. 

The audio was so wonderful to listen too, and if there’s ever going to be a part two, I will read it in a heartbeat! I do wish that the author

explored Eleanor/Covey’s reservation for her daughter Benny’s bisexuality. Her husband was pissed but I think it was because Benny was career and life lost, and adding queerness was too much for this man LOL but it would’ve been nice to get a better understanding as to why Eleanor/Covey was upset too. 

This is a must read because the multigenerational saga, with

Eleanor/Covey’s Chinese father who spoke patios

was such a great listen and read!!! The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars, was because the ending felt rushed, especially after all the time and care that was put into Eleanor’s story. Plus, I felt like there could’ve been more on Byron and Benny after listening to their mother’s history

and it would’ve been nice to read about their older sister settling and getting to know Byron and Benny more.

HIGLY recommend this book, and then if you’re feeling like you want more of this story, watch the Hulu tv show haha

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Racism

Minor: Violence, Homophobia, and Domestic abuse