Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

43 reviews

citybookspgh's review

dark emotional 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? No

4.5

Powerful book about a real-life reform school for boys. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Torture

A difficult but important read.

hkesslerjones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Sexism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

amariela02's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Medical content, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

insomniacsun's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-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

Questo è uno di quei libri che necessita di essere letto con calma, dando tempo ad ogni frase, ogni parola tempo per essere assimilata a dovere. Una lettura pesante ma necessaria. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Bullying, Classism, Racial slurs, Blood, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

mmwiseheart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

This is a fantastic book, which feels weird to say since the content is so heavy and dark. However, it is very well written. More importantly, it tells the story of boys whose stories were largely unheard. It is based on a true story of what happened at a reform school in Florida. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that I felt it wasn’t fully resolved. Which is perhaps intentional. 

I read this for book group and was forewarned that I needed to start reading it earlier than I normally would because I’d need to take breaks from the heaviness of it. And that turned out to be the case. The only other book I’ve read that I remember having to put down and come back to this much was John Hersey’s Hiroshima. 

I recommend this to everyone. It’s a lot to handle, but it’s so important. It’s important to know about and learn to recognize the injustices that have happened, and are still happening, in our country so that we can affect change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Bullying, Confinement, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Slavery

buckeyegolden's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Colson Whitehead is one of those authors who doesn't blow you away while you're looking at the page, but rather once you've closed the book and can't stop thinking about it. There's an unexpected element towards the end that really drops the story into meaningfulness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

davianareads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Bullying, and Addiction

hannahga's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.0

Very powerful book. Started a little bit slow but kept getting better as it went on. The epilogue included something I was not expecting. Really great writing that told the story in a way that was captivating, thought provoking, and genuine. I don't tend to read stories about this time period and I feel like it's an era that is pushed into the past or not spoken/taught about transparently, so it was a great avenue to learn more about the Jim Crow era. Really glad I read (listened to) this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Cursing, and Bullying

babieyunie's review

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Bullying, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, and Confinement

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, and Sexual harassment

silverrose187's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Slavery