Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

124 reviews

deannab415's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

This book made me feel every emotion under the sun. The writing was outstanding. Characters were human. Plot moved at a good pace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Medical content, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Suicide attempt

estherk809's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

one mom’s kids realize that their present is heavily molded by their mom’s past. i started crying long before i was halfway through the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Bullying

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Biphobia, Murder, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Sexism, Classism, Bullying, Murder, Biphobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

fkshg8465's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

So much goodness in here. Lots of strands of stories odien disjointed but ultimately all woven back together. Could’ve used a better editor, but overall, an important story to tell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Racism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Biphobia, and Rape

ptoridactyl30's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Slavery

shelovedtoread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I LOVED Black Cake. Like couldn't put it down, read it in two days loved. (And that wasn't easy at 385 pages!)
I'm not sure why I was so drawn to this book. I have nothing in common with any of the characters and couldn't relate to the majority of their struggles. Maybe that's the magic! Charmaine Wilkerson's writing was lovely and so easy to digest. The blend of fiction and historical fiction worked perfectly, and I learned a lot without intending to, or even realizing it. The plot was fairly predictable but I didn't mind that. Even with being able to guess what was coming, there still were enough surprises to keep me interested.
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone and hope the author is working on something new!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

readbetweendeelines's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Rape, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Police brutality, Grief, and Bullying

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Classism, Infertility, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

mlkai's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

enjoyed for the most part! had a large print copy which made things a lot easier & more pleasurable. 

pacing was off for me. i think it was supposed to incite mystery but i just got impatient bc i didn’t feel like much was happening. or sometimes SO MUCH happened in a page. and ALL the bows got wrapped in the end which didn’t leave enough for the imagination for me tbh. 

 i enjoyed & appreciated the integration of culture 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Pregnancy