Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

58 reviews

orion's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Blood, Child death, Police brutality, Racism, Ableism, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Self harm, War, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Grief, Medical content, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent and Cursing

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I love so much about this book, I just couldn't handle a particular topic that's triggering for me when I was already stressed (mostly in good ways) by the story so far. The worldbuilding is very cool, paying attention to language and tiny cultural differences existing between the decks. The audiobook performance is good. I like Aster as a main character.

I really wish I could handle finishing this, but I just can't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Ableism, Homophobia, Cursing, Abortion, Mental illness, Blood, Infertility, Child abuse, and Cancer

Minor: Transphobia, Dementia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Death of parent, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

nagev's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Abortion, Classism, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Transphobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Classism, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Transphobia, Death, Lesbophobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Minor: Dysphoria, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Ableism, Death of parent, Gore, Infertility, Medical trauma, War, Child abuse, and Slavery

sofipitch's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.75

Nothing I say could do this book justice, it's endlessly creative and complex. Truly in awe, the only reason this isn't 5 stars is one small bit that triggered my phobia but that's it, literally my only complaint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Abortion, Classism, Death of parent, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, and Suicide

solenodon's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Body shaming, Mental illness, Self harm, Transphobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol

mazomazli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

This is definitely one of the hardest books I’ve ever read emotionally. It deeply pulls from the history of American chattel slavery for world building. If you’ve read Kindred by Octavia Butler it’s in that type of atmosphere but more graphic.

 I would like to inform anyone who has or will compare this to the Handmaid’s Tale that you are incorrect for doing so. I highly recommend any form of nonfiction on the realities of people who were enslaved in the US so you understand that the things read in this book happened often to real people. I would also say it pulls from actual history similarly like the Poppy War trilogy where that author pulled accounts from survivors of the Rape of Nanjing to put directly in. I also might say that like the Poppy War, the real history was toned down a little meaning the events in this book are still not as cruel as the real worlds. 

Here’s a long and incomplete list of topics addressed throughout the book: being autistic in a world that is quick to do violence to you and trying to navigate it, what people do to survive constant sexual assault and rape, child on child sexual abuse after both experiencing and witnessing so much, physical abuse and violence at every turn, the stories told amongst those who are surviving to hold each other up, a character who is white passing and trying to help those oppressed, police brutality (literally overseers are the origins of cops), and a character with psychosis/paranoia (perhaps schizophrenia) with lots of self harm. 

There are so many things I think of between the way Aster tries to always be prepared for when violence comes for her, how Giselle was both vibrant and subdued and so complicated, and the way Theo presents himself and how his uncle likely had abused him as a child and he does not remember. I feel so much for Giselle. It is very uncommon to see a severely mentally ill character depicted so realistically - at the end of the day she wasn’t the big scary danger to every one else. The majority of the violence she did was against herself or objects. 

This is definitely a check if you’re in the headspace before you try this, but I think it’s worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Police brutality, and Rape

Moderate: Transphobia, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Homophobia

nautilus18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Medical content, Physical abuse, Ableism, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

thedisabledreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Ableism, Abortion, and Physical abuse

tahsintries's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Homophobia, Bullying, Medical content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Ableism, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Torture, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse