Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

41 reviews

smith2ds's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Medical trauma, Rape, Abortion, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Blood, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Body horror

mothwitchlibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abortion, Racism, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Medical content, Child death, Bullying, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Murder, Classism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Confinement

booksqworm's review against another edition

dark slow-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

2.5

The book has potential but the writing style just did not work for me. I felt somethings were right on the nose and some things came out of no where. Has a lot of cool ideas but I think it could have been shorter. A lot of people would still love this book, but for me it was just a bit slow, cruel, and lacking excitement/plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Excrement, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Blood, Rape, Abortion, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Suicide, Ableism, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Mental illness

hannah_a_r_teatalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book; conceptually, it was fascinating. However, sometimes mysteries were picked up and set down again for reasons that escaped me. One example is the place where Lune's notes were stored, which seemed like it could have been much more developed. The resolution of the mystery of Lune's disappearance was anticlimactic,

and I was also very confused about the insistence the book had that she slit her throat, when there was no body and we never find out what happened

. Mostly, I was just unprepared for the incessant sexual violence in the book. There is so much sexual violence. It made the book hard to read, and not in the "this is hard but good/important for me" way, but in the "yes, we get it already, women of the Lowerdecks are raped incessantly, yes, I understand the problems inherent in this society and how it represents our own past and present, we've now passed the point where it develops theme, character, and plot and is just beating me up" sort of way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Child death, Confinement, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Minor: Incest and Pedophilia

tifftastic87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.5

Beautifully dark and depressing. With a small light in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Death, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, and Abortion

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Cursing, Dysphoria, Rape, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying

riverrliam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

This book is heavy on science terms, so be prepared to look things up! Some of the plot was confusing to me, but overall it was entertaining and a quick read. I liked all the queer representation. I love a dystopian story / escape for a better world and the setting was unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I really wish I liked this one more 😕 I think I would've liked it better not in audiobook (the quick, brief POV changes were a bit difficult), and I wasn't a big fan of the narrator or the MC really. I can tell it was good writing wise, it just wasn't hitting me much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, Classism, Violence, Bullying, Police brutality, Rape, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Body horror, Slavery, and Suicide attempt

kellyofcali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

Very much a modern sci-fi for me, I liked the world the author created and the way they wove in themes of classism and racism while still pursuing a vibrant sci-fi story with a more diverse and varied cast of characters. My main issue was the ending - it felt like someone told them to "wrap it up" and so the ending felt unhurried and less gripping than the earlier parts of the book. However, definitely worth a read and made for an interesting book club discussion (people were very split) - especially for sci-fi lovers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Abandonment, Abortion, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Misogyny, Slavery, Chronic illness, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy and Racism

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is one of those books that I close after finishing and stare off into the middle distance for a solid ten minutes, just… processing.

I feel like I should have a bunch of really thoughtful reactions to this story, since there’s obviously so much going on thematically, but more than anything I just feel like my brain is stuck on the buffering screen, lol.

I loved the premise—an enormous space vessel acting as a sort of Noah’s ark, harboring a human population fleeing earth in search of the proverbial promised land. I appreciated the autistic, intersex, trans/non-binary, and asexual representation, as well as the allegorical interpretation of the antebellum south.

I struggled a little bit with some of the dense “science-y” terminology and just ended up skimming a lot of it, assuming I’d be able to get the gist. I had a similar issue when I tried to visualize some of the things described (in particular, the fields where lowerdeck workers harvest crops). The only other thing that threw me off sometimes was the quick jumps around through time, and not being able to sure when a “flashback” is being described and at what point have we jumped to the present again.

Other than that I really enjoyed this book, especially the second half. It’s beautifully-written, and the characters are nuanced and richly crafted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Abortion, and Gun violence

rcsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

3.5

The space ship is a great analogy for being trapped in slavery, you can't run away into a vacuum. The actual science of this space ship though, is insane like it has a tiny sun with floors for growing crops round it that all require drastically different environments and you can see people on other floors and they're upside down. What? If you take the ship purely as an analogy and don't think about science then this is a really interesting way to write about slavery and trauma full of diverse, queer and neurodivergent characters. The A deck ruling class are the white, heteronormative colonisers and the rest of the alphabet of decks represent the various cultures that the West enslaved and colonised. The analogy is good but the actual plot of the story gets confusing. 
 The story of Aster learning about her mother through the journals she left behind started out so well and then kind of got lost later. We just dropped it for the middle of the book and then it reappeared at the end with a lot of solutions which clearly happened off page. 
 I could see why Giselle was there to show us the effects of trauma but i have no idea why she was Aster's friend, she seemed to hate her a lot and they had nothing in common apart from living on the same floor of the massive ship. I have no idea what the Lieutenants motives were, he was a cartoon villain who just decided one day that a random child was his nemesis and he was going to mess with her for the rest of his life.
 It was very readable and I enjoyed it but this review seems to think otherwise...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, War, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Stalking