Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Black Cake

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

100 reviews

just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

Y'all this one was just everywhere and it was so popular and then Hulu decided to adapt it and honestly I was just curious and wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Behind on reviews and feeling lazy today...so here's the blurb from Goodreads: "In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves."

Alright, I can absolutely see why Hulu picked this up and turned around production so quickly - this book has all the elements of interest that keep viewers (and readers!) invested and on the edge of their seat. There was so much drama (family, community, historical, etc.) and secrets, and all of it was so intriguing (with lots of foreshadowing) and mysterious and communicated with well-paced and easy, compelling writing (helped in large part by the short chapters and lots of POVs sprinkled in).

Wilkerson also did a great job making everything feel...genuine. With this amount of drama, things could easily have gotten to a point where they were unbelievable and there was no emotional connection to the characters and their experiences/relationships. Somehow, Wilkerson avoided that, walking the tightrope of "this is too wild to be true" and "this could totally happen" very smoothly. And there was a lot to balance, as the complications, miscommunications, secrets and misinterpretations in this family ran deeeeeeep. As those got revealed and detailed and resolved (or not, as it were), the amount of character development was reallllly good. Like, I was expecting this to be more plot, because of the book club/Hulu show situation, but *damn* even all the tiny side characters got full stories here! Hats off.

Finally, Wilkerson managed to jam pack this book not just with plot and character development, but also with an impressive array of social commentary and contemporary cultural issues and "hot topics." Of these more intentional and deeper messages, earth conservation, racism (specifically the realities of life as a Black person in Europe/the US), and the diaspora/acculturation of food were at the forefront. There was also some really uplifting conversation about the traditions of a culture, and what a person/group is allowed or encouraged to pressure (be it jobs, sports, special interests, etc), and the leaders in pushing back against those norms. Similar to the number of secrets and storylines and characters Wilkerson balanced, I was impressed with how she was able to authentically include so many (seemingly) disparate issues. It all plays a part in the overall mastery in the writing of this novel: how well she portrayed complex lives/characters, in a way that mirrors how complex we are as real people, living real lives.

Black Cake weaves together history and present day and the breadth of the diaspora from movement both involuntary (slavery and the search for safety) and voluntary, and mixes it with the intimacies of family drama in a way that shows how we are all a product of that complex and interwoven story of humanity, in ways known/expected and unknown/unexpected. Just so well done, in all ways.

“What if knowing the truth were to hurt more than the longing?”

“Yeah, tradition has sometimes told us that only certain kinds of people should study certain subjects, or engage in certain sports, or play in an orchestra, or what have you, but tradition is about what people have or have not done; it's not about what they are capable of doing. And it's not about what they will be doing in the future.”

“Question yourself, yes, but don’t doubt yourself. There’s a difference.”

“…thinking of small but profound inheritances. Of how untold stories shape people’s lives, both when they are withheld and when they are revealed.”

“…nothing was more beautiful than a girl who was fearless.”

Content Warnings

dfriend12's review against another edition

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hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

3.5 ⭐️

I wanted to love this book so much more than I did. I loved the beginning and Covey’s story at the beginning. I felt like there were too many perspectives and stories wound into one that I wasn’t able to get the depth that I wanted out of the characters. They all fell a bit flat even though they had so much potential. I wanted to feel the pain in their stories and not just be told it. Also, I feel like it could have been edited a bit more to cut down the number of big issues the book covered. If there had been a more narrow focus, there could have been more depth. Loved the idea of the story so much. Just left wanting more.

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a really intriguing book! I watched the show first, just because I knew that it wouldn’t be as detailed as the novel. The show left me on a cliffhanger, so I decided not to wait for the next season. I needed answers!!

Anyway, I think that the story is really well done. I just found it confusing a few times because there were times when I thought the format was a little confusing. Mostly because I kept expecting the flashbacks to only be from Eleanor’s perspective as she was the one telling the story on the recording. So when it jumped to other characters whose stories she could not have known yet, I had to pause.

Aside from that, I was very wrapped up in this book. I’m actually kind of sad to leave Covey behind.

I definitely recommend y’all read this, especially the audiobook!

Content Warnings

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

This was really good and i came this close (👌) to crying, a look into family loyalty, history and relationships,
Sometimes felt like benny and byrons (if thats not how u spell them im sorry i listen to the audiobook) characters could at times have been a bit more developed but that was mainly cause i really liked to development of the others

Content Warnings

zara89's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

beate251's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings