Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Penguin Readers Level 7: Homegoing (ELT Graded Reader) by Yaa Gyasi

88 reviews

summeryoder's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

It's an amazingly well crafted novel that spans decades and generations. While each family member's story is captivating, it's a bit disorienting to leave a character after just one chapter, never to come back to them. At times it felt that some of the brutality and sexual content veered into gratuitousness rather than being a necessary storytelling vehicle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Drug abuse, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, and Infidelity

gothmeadowlark's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Rape

tracymichell's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexual content

crybabybea's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Torture, Drug use, Misogyny, Slavery, Colonisation, Death of parent, Murder, Classism, Racism, Sexual content, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, War, Confinement, Excrement, Grief, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Child death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

takarakei's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

"We believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask your self, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.” 

This is not my typical kind of read, but I did think it was well done for the most part. Particularly the beginning stories were very lush and I think there's some extremely important perspectives to be gained by reading this book. As the quote says - there are many sides of history to be told and many perspectives are often left out. Towards the ending few stories I was a tad less engaged with, perhaps these were more familiar stories to me and that's why? Having the family tree at the front was very integral to be aware of how people were related. For sure an important read!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Death, Slavery, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Drug use, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Excrement

addi_m's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, War, Slavery, Mental illness, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual content, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Child death

geraldineleyendo's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolute gem -  It changed something inside of me and it's a book I mourned when it ended! One of the most beautiful threads I've seen, Yaa Gyasi is a genius doing a sort of "worldbuilding" focused almost exclusively on people. She created a portal to the intergenerational Black experience and how time changes everything while it also doesn't. Every story felt like a super powerful vignette, not only emotionally charged but genuinely interesting and funny at times. I am desperate to go to Ghana after reading this book, I feel SO grateful this story (or more like - "these stories" in plural, because there are many!) found me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

mirandalikesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

My favorite part of this book is that every character is the main character. I was invested in every one. I don't understand how Gyasi was able to construct the life motivations of each character so perfectly with only giving each character like 20 pages. Seeing some of the characters age throught the generations is such a gift. Because so many wonderful characters had their life cut short as a product of white violence. 

It is awe inspiring and heart breaking how many generations were and still are affected by slavery. How slavery has direct ties to the oppression and cyclical struggles of black people in America and in Africa. White oppression has killed generations of black joy. 

This story demonstrates the struggle of being a woman so brilliantly too. How many generations of woman went undefined until a man defined her. 

I learned so much through the course of this book. The birth of our modern prison industrial complex being born of the enslavement of African and Black men is something that makes perfect sense. But it was laid out so clearly here.  Some of the violence was so vividly painted that I keep retracing those scenes in my mind. Some of the heartbreak too.

Absolute must read. We have been privileged to not know these stories for long enough. And we are privileged now to see these stories through the perspective of each of these characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Classism, Genocide, Violence, Racism, Rape, Confinement, Death, Body horror, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, Drug use, Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, War, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Suicide

mollz12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Haunting and raw. One of my favorite books of 2022. I will always read what this author releases. 
This book follows two sisters that found two different dates. One as a slave on a boat, the other sold and rich. They continue to follow their heirs as the time passes. So beautiful and yet so dark and emotional. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Violence

emcheym's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Rape, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, War, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Infertility, Suicide, Cursing, and Death