Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

30 reviews

gailsage_thomps's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Hate crime, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Infertility

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

maeverose's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Violence, Racism, Murder, and Genocide

Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, Torture, Colonisation, Child death, Abandonment, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content and Animal cruelty

cheyneflynn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

I got lost sometimes but I did really love the storytelling 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying, Child death, and Pregnancy

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Trafficking, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Confinement, Genocide, Torture, Child abuse, Slavery, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Grief

caitlin_bookchats's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, Abandonment, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Police brutality, Rape, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Medical content, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Trafficking

This book in some ways is a greatest hits of 19th century racism so it includes eugenics, forced sterilization, genocide, weekly lynchings, it doesn't revel in any of these things but know going in that reading this book will involve acknowledging these happened and some reckoning with who perpetrated these atrocities against whom. Oh also, warning for repeated use of racial slurs, including the n-word, by characters.

ashbcgc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Slavery, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

carisamarie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, War, Vomit, and Xenophobia

jkiranjot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Infertility, and Medical trauma

Minor: Religious bigotry

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.5

reading others' reviews helped me verbalize some of the weaker points of the book i didn't have time to verbalize bc i was so hooked on seeing how this all panned out. thus, i dropped my official rating to a 4/5 (but on storygraph i'm giving it a 4.5/5).

i'm rating this book higher than a 4 bc i can't deny that this was the first time in a while i've been absorbed into a fictional narrative. for the most part, i enjoyed the pacing, and when things became stagnant, i enjoyed the flashbacks to other characters' plots; i think it helped me to care about the characters other than in Cora and to tie up loose ends.

i agree with others in that there could've been more done with the actual railroad, as it's the title of the book. i also personally got lost a bit in the wording as well as the names of the side characters; i couldn't remember if someone was white or black as slaves obviously were given anglo names, but the author would name drop people from the past and i'd just gloss over it bc i couldn't remember their storyline.

i think it's overall a really captivating, well-researched book. you can tell the author took a lot of time with this story. it's hard to read as any slave narrative would be, so it requires a lot of attention, but i'm glad i read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia