Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

20 reviews

sbookreader's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, War, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Hate crime, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

book_cave_ghost_girl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Unforgettable deep dive into the immense cruelty and dehumanization of chattel slavery and the complex relationships of the characters with each other when it comes to love and power-- will make you feel your feelings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Gore, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcoholism, Murder, War, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Child death

birdomens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

This book is beautiful. It’s painted so well with a mix of magic and reality. Afia follows tangled roots of stories in a way that both acknowledges their complexity and keeps connections and plot clear to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Hate crime, Torture, Trafficking, Body horror, Confinement, Abortion, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, War, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Violence, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.25

Something's missing. I found myself confused through most the book, and not in the normal way that I like to be confused whenever I'm reading magical realism. Something's just not there. I'm not sure what it is, or if this even makes sense, but I realized it about a quarter of the way through, and that feeling just lingered the rest of the time. I would say maybe I need to reread it in the future, but who knows if I will. The subject matter of slavery is already so triggering for me, but with the rest of the triggering content I know I won't pick it up again for, mm, maybe three years minimum. Not to say that the content is explicit or overt, that's just how triggers are, in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Racism, Torture, Infidelity, Confinement, Miscarriage, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child death, Grief, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Dementia, War, Misogyny, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infertility, Murder, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Stalking

ka_cam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.0

One for the fans of women-centered us civil war era historical fiction. I thought it took some fairly common themes (violence of slavery esp related to the family, the South during the civil war, relations between enslaved Black women/children and white women/children in enslaver families, women healers as   suspect for witchcraft, womens agency and lack thereof in reproductive health and pregnancy, etc) and wove them together in compelling ways. I found Rue an interesting and believable narrator and thought the author did a wonderful job building out her perspective. Some of the romance was a bit random, and I felt the last 10-20% of the book became more scattered and rushed due to the increase in twists and narrator voices late in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Torture, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Death, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Incest, and War

Addition content warnings: Lynching, KKK-style violence; also much of the above content warnings apply to/involve enslaved people and/or children

chioma_a's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the best books I've read all year. Akotara creates a stunningly vivid landscape and cast of characters and i can feel the love and level of care that went into ever detail. Witnessing the changes in the town, and in Rue, as we travel between the pre and post war timelines kept me engaged for every minute. And the way Akotara captured the heart of this community trying to claim freedom in the wake of loss and pain and suffering, I absolutely loved this story and will be thinking about it for a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

brooke123's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Rape, and Miscarriage

marisnini's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Slavery, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jhblahut's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Body horror, Slavery, and Pregnancy

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Torture, Violence, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child death, Death, Body horror, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Abortion, Vomit, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts