Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

142 reviews

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Stalking, Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Racism

sellnow_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book is hard to rate. I think I was hoping for a little more magical realism given the reimagining of the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad, but that reimagining didn’t seem to add as much to the plot as I’d hoped. The story is a heart breaking and a brutal look at slavery and the many abuses Black people have endured in this country (taken with a grain of salt as it’s not 100% historically accurate). But the pacing of the novel was clunky and in each new setting there were many new named characters to keep track of with very little character development. Overall for me it was just ok. 

Satisfied the StoryGraph 2024 genre reading challenge prompt for a historical fiction set before 1900.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Murder

Moderate: Rape

jumbledjess's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

As you can imagine, when talking about enslaved people you have to show the injustices, brutality, and dehumanization that occurred to make this part of history possible. This book does exactly that and looks at America’s past with an unflinching gaze. While definitely not an easy read, it was hard to put this story down because I wanted to know what happened next (though there were moments when I had to stop because the violence was graphic). Definitely not for the faint of heart, but definitely a necessary narrative to have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

joshuapeck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.5

This was a challenging read, to experience a fictionalized version of slavery and the underground railroad with so many connections to the true history and true themes of that era — the arbitrariness of death and survival, rape, freedom and bondage, and what freedom really means. It was at times hopeful and joyful, and at other times completely devastating. It was an amazing read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

troyb3's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, and Rape

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

✨ Thrifted ✨

Wow. Far out. This was (obviously) going to be a heavy book, but I was unprepared for it 😳 The content warnings as usual will be included below.

Initially I found it difficult to get into, in the way that it was written, but once we delved into Cora’s life I found it difficult to put down. Usually multi-generational stories are challenging for me to read for some reason, but this one I was able to find the links between Ajarry, Mabel and Cora.
Cora and Royal also made me go 🥹

OBVIOUSLY we hated Ridgeway - he was fucked up. I found Mingo interesting; as someone who’d bought their freedom looking down on others felt bizarre and complicated and difficult to contend with.

4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you so much ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Racism, Genocide, Death of parent, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, and Gaslighting

nycsquirrel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Whitehead mixes truth and fiction by creating a world with a physical underground railroad, which establishes the tweak on reality to allow the story to pull together true horrors from various points in American history as inflicted by the white populations

(e.g., slavery, Trail of Tears, the Tuskegee experiment, stop and frisk)

. Each state crossing presents a different demonstration of race relations, though the hierarchy is clear no matter the presentation. Whitehead's language is beautiful yet cutting, and the story is justifiably jarring.  An excellent and important read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Torture, and Racism

Moderate: Rape

catherinemb's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, and Sexual assault

01ivia's review against another edition

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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Body horror, Colonisation, Rape, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Slavery, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

tigerkind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

„A plantation was a plantation; one might think one’s misfortunes distinct, but the true horror lay in their universality.“

A capitivating read, especially interesting if you’re familiar with other (neo) slave narratives. Focusing purely on the reading experience I found the book a bit predictable and the style alienating from the character’s emotions and suffering - but I think it fits the narrative. The story is not indulgent in recounting the emotional and physical horrors of slavery (though they’re there, no doubt about it) but focuses more on perseverance and persistence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Confinement, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Excrement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Trafficking, Genocide, and Violence