Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Razorblade Tears

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

104 reviews

readwithinthespines's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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lindseyrenee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

Brutal and violent. The only reason I didn’t give 5⭐️ is just because the progression from hatred and intolerance of their sons to absolute love and acceptance happened so quickly that it was unrealistic.

I really enjoyed this.

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alicelalicon's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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hunterp's review against another edition

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dark

3.75

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maurareads13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

Raw. Shook. Gut-wrenching. Noir redemption. Violent. Rage-filled love. Graphic. The South. Racism. Unlikely camaraderie. Emotional. Man, I could just on and on with short descriptors to try to convey the depth of this novel.

Ike and Buddy Lee’s married gay sons have been brutally gunned down, leaving a precious daughter and their families reeling with raging grief and all-consuming regret. Ike, a Black man living an upstanding life after 15 years in prison, and Buddy Lee, a White man with his own jail-ridden past who’s barely making it by, join forces and draw from their violent pasts to discover who murdered their sons. The character-driven prose is so elegant amidst the violence as you watch the evolution of these two fathers as they set aside their own prejudices for each other and their sons to seek their own kind of justice. An unlikely friendship forms that proves to be the lifeline that keeps them going to the very end.

Let me finish with this- this book won’t be for everyone. Despite the story being relevant to our current times on multiple levels, the graphic violence, language and heaviness of the topics covered will be difficult for some readers. Have you ever seen Sons of Anarchy & read Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (both of which I loved)? Imagine this as an episode of SoA meets GWaDT, of sorts, and you have the gist of the setting and the noir.

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tenten's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Razorblade Tears was a fun, fast-paced book about two Southern fathers, Ike and Buddy Lee, avenging the death of their sons, Isiah and Derek. The fathers, one Black and one white, are not only dealing with grief, but also regret for the strained relationships they had with their gay sons. this regret is the driving force in their quest for vengeance: they feel that they failed as fathers so they’re finally doing right by their sons by embarking on this mission.

this novel was really absurd! like, these two middle aged men

took out a biker gang and two powerful political figures?

lol. okay. sure! i enjoyed this though–i didn’t pick up this book to be confronted with reality, and this provided exactly what i needed from it. the writing was good enough, though there were some sentences that i felt were really cliche. relatedly, Ike’s constant lecturing of Buddy Lee about racism sometimes felt out of place and a little, like…would anyone really say this in this situation? be forrea;. speaking of Ike, between the two protagonists, i think he experienced the most character growth especially in terms of being able to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, but i think part of that was because Buddy Lee was already more accepting to begin with. he obviously made his mistakes with his son, some huge ones, but on the whole seemed less….disgusted by queerness than Ike did. he’s ignorant in a way that is harmful at times, but generally is more easy-going and chill than Ike. and funnier. honestly, if you asked me before i started the book, i never would have guessed that i’d find the white dad more likable. he was just more fun!
everything really pops off in the last 100 or so pages. the identity of the person behind it all felt somewhat contrived to me, but the benefit of a more plot-oriented novel is that sometimes you can sacrifice realism for the sake of a good story. and this book certainly delivered on that front! there were parts when i got real life heated about the characters’ actions. that’s how you know a story is good, when it can get a real rise out of you.

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djimerson's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-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

This book was insane! We went from 0 to 100 in the first 20 pages and I loved EVERY second of this. Definitely look up trigger warnings because this book isn’t for the lighthearted. It’s a revenge story, FULL of violence, foul language, dark humor, and LGBTQA+ phobia. But if you’re ready for a dark and twisted time, this book is for you!

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