Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

20 reviews

kristensandiego's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Murder, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

sprucy2427's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Confinement, Child death, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

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

vash_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Slavery, and Sexual assault

goodoldfashionedidiot's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-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? No

4.5

I did like the book, but the writing was somewhat confusing and I think on some parts it was written to fast and then again to slow. I never could completely fall into the storys, which is probably a good thing considering the topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

ehmannky's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

This book is excellent, but it's not a particularly easy or pleasant read. It's an unrelenting look at the myriad and downright creative ways that white Americans caused violent trauma towards Black people. Turning the Underground Railroad into a literal railroad was a creative masterstroke, though I wish more had been done with the setting in the actual story). I also feel like it's important that this book is set decades before the Civil War, because it emphasizes that yes freedom came eventually, but for many people like Cora's mother and so many of the Black people she meets along her journey, that freedom never comes and they die at the hands of white people and their system of pain and suffering. Although

Cora does makes it out to freedom in the fabled North

, this isn't a particularly hopeful novel and the ending is about as downer as I can imagine. I feel like this book is going to get embedded in the literature as a Classic, and rightly so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Trafficking, Rape, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Suicide and Child death

walrus's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

stevie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

feodora_isabella'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I started reading this book because of the current protests against racism in the United States (June 2020) and think it is a must read. As I white person I fully support the Black Lives Matter movement and I want to educate myself about racism and white privilege. I chose the right book to start with, because it shows America's true face and can help us better understand both its past and present. The books tells the story of Cora, a slave girl who flees the cotton plantation she has lived on her whole life. She is hunted down by a slave catcher called Ridgeway. On the way, she travels far and meets many people. The Underground Railroad exists for real in this book, and serves as metaphor for the country itself.  'Every state is different," Lumbly was saying. "Each one a state of possibility, with its own customs and ways of doing things. Moving through them, you'll see the breadth of the country before you reach your final stop. (...) Following Lumbly's final instructions, Cora looked through the slats. There was only darkness, mile after mile.' I personally think this metaphor is intriguing and works very well. You almost forget this is a work of fiction, because it  could have been real. The railroad also has a mysterious element to it: nobody directly answers Cora when she asks who built it.  'All the railroad men, from Lumbly to Royal, countered with a variation of "Who do you think made it? Who makes everything?" She would get him to tell her one day, she decided.' The answer is, of course, the black people. The book is brutally honest, showing the horrors of slavery and the hardships faced by those born with a dark skin in America. Even when they had escaped their masters, they were (and are to this day) never free of the white people. It is heartbreaking to see that since those times so little has changed, that black people still have to deal with racism and discrimination in 2020, that they cannot feel safe. Please read this book. The subject matter is heavy, but so important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Slavery, Violence, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, and Murder

lena_and_her_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, and Religious bigotry