Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

138 reviews

katrina_daquin's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Trafficking, Rape, Colonisation, Slavery, Child death, Racism, Classism, Violence, Death, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

kyla_mae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Child death, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Death, Medical trauma, and Racism

einsteinapproved's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Racism

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual violence

vedpears's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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

4.5

Wow. What an incredible book. The material is extremely somber and heartwrenching and a consolidation of a great many horrors that real people were forced to endure. 
I truly wish that the railroad aspect wasn't written so literally - unfortunately, I question if it does a disservice to the subject. I know too many people of different backgrounds who are now admitting that they think that "it wasn't as bad as -they- say it was". 
I also wish the ending was a bit more concrete, but perhaps that is fine because the ramifications of slavery in the USA are still present and the disparity between black and white Americans is far too great, still - the story isn't concretely done yet in real life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, Body horror, Sexual assault, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Medical content, Suicide, Child abuse, and Infidelity

freshbatchofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

I know I rate a lot of books 5 stars, but this is probably in my top 5 of this year

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Trafficking

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, and Rape

Minor: Medical trauma

jazhandz's review

DNF at 68%, for two reasons. The first is, put simply, I didn’t care. I put the book down for two weeks and came back and didn’t want to put in the effort of relearning names. Whitehead is a really capable writer, but nothing about this grabbed me. Which brings me to the second reason: he has said before that he wanted to bring the Underground Railroad to life and literalization. And it’s totally wasted here, which I found frustrating. The literal, actual Underground Railroad of trains is not compelling, not focal enough to matter, and not vague enough to stop me from having practical concerns. I think if I finished it, it would’ve been a three-star read, but after my break from reading it, finishing it didn’t feel worthwhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Slavery, Death, Racial slurs, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Excrement

alyssagirardi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Hate crime

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Rape, Abandonment, Blood, and Sexual violence

s3lin's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

mgdsmile's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

Whitehead takes the reader along on Cora's journey through southern states on what she hopes is a path to freedom. The Underground Railroad is tense, expectant yet sobering. The railroad is a thought-provoking element.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Slavery

Minor: Sexual assault

belle2008's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, and Vomit