Reviews tagging 'Child death'

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

23 reviews

kimveach's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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

3.5

I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. It should have been a powerful tale of love, hope, loss, and joy. Yet, I didn't feel most of these things while reading it. If anything, I kept feeling that the emotions were told from a great distance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Vomit, and Slavery

katiejohns's review

challenging dark hopeful informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Racism, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death and Rape

jennipea382's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Racism

Moderate: Misogyny, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Blood, Violence, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Racism, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Child death and Death

mamagoose_oc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Racism, Miscarriage, Child death, and Gun violence

nightowlreader46's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Miscarriage, Violence, Child death, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racial slurs, and Cultural appropriation

torturedreadersdept's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Trafficking, Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Body horror, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Colonisation, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional 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

What I really liked about this book is how different it was than so many books I've read and what I learned while reading it. I've not read many books (maybe any) with a similar plot, of an enslaved person trying to track down their stolen children, so it was a pleasure to read something that felt totally new. I also didn't know much about enslavement in the Caribbean and its history, which had me looking up things as I was reading, learning more about its history and where things were happening.

Shearer created an interesting story that was mostly well-paced. The ending felt a bit rushed after how much build up there had been throughout the rest of the book, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment all that much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Child death and Racism

brewdy_reader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 • 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘍𝘪𝘤 • 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦 ⁣
𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 31 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2023⁣

There is no force on Earth more powerful than a mother's love. It is as big as the sky and as deep as the ocean.

It’s unimaginable to put myself into the shoes of a woman whose 5 babies were stolen & resold into slavery as children. My mama bear heart couldn't survive it. 

Emancipation — or the "what came after" slavery is the subject of this book. After being declared “free”, Mama Rachel goes on the run in order to discover the fates of her 5 adult children, to reunite her family.

Although a bit far-fetched at times, because this is fiction it worked. I appreciated the unique arcs of each of her children. I teared up several times and I wanted them to all have a happy homecoming, even though I knew that was unlikely/unrealistic. This book was both heartbreaking and also full of love, hope, courage, and determination.

It highlights the injustices of slavery, but also how post-emancipation life was not all that different than indentured servitude. How many black people were still killed by whites without repercussions. 

I would highly recommend the audio format in order to get the best reading of the accents and speech used throughout the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

brichneyfloss's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Colonisation, and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Hate crime, and Death

Minor: Rape