Reviews tagging 'Grief'

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

30 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

amyvl93's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

 Sometimes when a historical fiction novel doesn't quite hit as much as I wanted it to, I wish the author had written a non-fiction piece instead - and that is the case with River Sing Me Home. The novel follows Rachel who flees the plantation she has been enslaved on after the Emancipation Act to try and find her five children who have all been taken from her. This journey takes her across Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and exposes her to the different lives that black people are attempting to find in this new context.

Shearer's close focus into the time of the 1834 Emancipation Act was very interesting to me - I didn't know about how many plantation owners, and other white business owners, essentially kept their slaves in place using loopholes which meant they could still be considered 'runaways'. Whilst I knew bits about the slave rebellions, much of the detail that was shared in this novel was new to me, and I also appreciated how Shearer also touched on the experience of those who were indigenous to the islands - who were there before colonisers arrived.

What didn't quite work as well for me was the characterisation of Rachel and others in the novel. Despite the often moving and heart-breaking content of this novel, I felt very distanced from Rachel and I felt that we were told rather than shown her emotions. She also didn't always incredibly rooted. The writing that I found the most moving was where we had characters telling their own stories, rooted in the first person, and perhaps there was a missed opportunity to truly tell Rachel's story. I also wasn't sure how I felt about a slightly unprobable romance that was thrown into the story as well.

River Sing Me Home highlights an important period of history, but wasn't a total hit for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, and Grief

jillaay_h's review

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

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Physical abuse, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Racism, Slavery, and Gun violence

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

wegs's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Slavery, and Colonisation

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Rape

moriahleigh's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Vomit, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, Grief, and Miscarriage

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

rubberrosebooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery

sundayfever's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring slow-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

4.5

Hopeful and heartwarming but doesn't shy away from dark reality. A great story about the power of love and family. I wish the characters got to develop more, as it's very focused on the protagonist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Violence, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape