Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

9 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

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

haleysversion's review

emotional hopeful 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Classism, Death, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

uhhadrianna's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Racism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, and Rape

micaelamariem's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

3.0

From a perspective that helps one see the different culture and understand the brutal history of slavery in the Caribbean, this book is great. It really tugs at the heartstrings as you follow a mother who escapes slavery to search for her sold children. The descriptions of the landscapes are also great. However, when it came to the characters, I found them, apart from Rachel, a bit one-dimensional and like their descriptions were more “telling” than “showing.” I also was frustrated that Rachel didn’t start her quest until about 100 pages in of a 300 page book—the slow beginning made me less inclined to really immerse myself into the story. Overall it was good, but I think it could’ve been better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Violence, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Bullying, Gore, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Alcohol

susie_bee's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Murder, Slavery, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, Rape, and Grief

Minor: Miscarriage

bringmybooks's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

This was an astoundingly beautiful debut novel and I can't recommend it highly enough.

✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

While not shying away from any of the realities of the history (with the content warnings to match - it's beautiful, but hard to read at times), this novel still manages to uplift your soul with the way it allows you to be a part of Rachel's journey. I'm not a mother myself, but I commend Eleanor Shearer on her ability to make you feel so connected to things that you have never had to experience. Rachel's love for her children, the way she remembers them, the way she yearns for them, the way she feels guilt and love and frustration and joy and deepest heartache; you are intimately involved in these feelings with her and it made the book very strong.

The history of slavery (&especially the Emancipation Act of 1834 and how that affected those enslaved in the Caribbean) was completely unknown to me, and I thought Shearer did a really good job adding a lot of factual information in a way that felt woven throughout the story as opposed to info-dumping it.

I was especially moved with the way water and the rivers played an integral role in the story, and the complicated nature of how Rachel and those around her felt about them. 

This was an emotionally resounding novel that will definitely be one I find myself recommending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Racial slurs

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

mboard's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

3.5

I felt the story was very powerful and meaningful, about a woman trying to undue the wrongs done for generations to her people. I felt her physical journey to find all her children seemed to convenient and a bit under-developed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

kerrygetsliterary's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Physical abuse, Violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape