Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

9 reviews

d1rtym1st's review

I shouldn't need to spend 5 minutes to decipher a page before I can understand what the hell the author wants to say. Feels like he found a thesaurus and went to town on it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Vomit

harureads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

This book is just incredible. I was completely trapped throughout and simply could not pick up anything else while reading this. Ghosh could not have done better than having such a variety of people and characters, many of them grotesque and depressing, and bringing them together in this painful journey. I loved their character development and how they were so agencial. I am completely invested in what happens with Deeti - who I felt the most protective of in the book - as they make their journey back to her alter as was implicated in the first book 1. I can't wait to move to the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Rape, Colonisation, Drug use, Racism, Trafficking, and Addiction

tassillow's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Trafficking, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Death, War, Drug use, Addiction, Confinement, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Pregnancy

theirgracegrace's review

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Sea of Poppies whisks you away to a different age that speaks about our own. The story bounces between several characters who are all share the experience of being on a retrofitted slave ship bringing Indian migrants to Mauritius at the dawn of the Opium Wars between Britain and China. The characters are a ragtag bunch who bring with them a vibrancy that I have never seen in historical fiction. The setting's time period and location are immensely deep and alive. The ending leaves a wide opening for many possible interpretations. What more could you want?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Ableism, Trafficking, Vomit, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Body shaming, Deportation, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Stalking, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

haley49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

Masterfully done work that encapsulates a range of characters from all walks of life in colonial Southern Asia from Indians and Bengalis of various castes to Europeans and Americans, both men and women. I loved all the perspectives and how well they illustrated life in this period. My main issue was that perspectives and names were hard to grasp in an audio format as someone who is not South Asian. I would recommend looking up how the names are spelled to better visualize their pronunciation if you’re like me and struggle with that. Also, it takes a minute to notice perspective swaps because they aren’t organized by chapter and jump around a bit. Check trigger warnings, too; just because sometimes the book feels like a normal adventure and sometimes it veers to violent and/or graphic depictions of various historical realities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Drug use, Racism, Excrement, Rape, Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Ableism, Gore, Physical abuse, Body horror, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Cursing, Drug abuse, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Violence, Classism, Death, Torture, and Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, and War

morganpearcy's review

I was not a fan of the graphic rape and torture scenes where the victims were folx living on the mental retardation spectrum.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Vomit

saintmaud's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Violence, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Addiction, Racism, Death, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, and Vomit

blancefloer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful reflective slow-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? Yes

5.0

Very rich use of language including many words whose cultural background most readers don't have - you can either look them up or just accept that you won't have the images exactly right - and hard-to-read dialects. Totally worth it, though. Such diverse characters, from all kinds of margins, and also just a really fun and adventurous read. Fully recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Addiction, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Confinement, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Murder, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, and War