Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

37 reviews

evhanson's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Torture, Terminal illness, Hate crime, and Drug abuse

anitaconchita's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Overall a fun satire, but the sales manual format got a bit exhausting for me, and there were so many point where I couldn’t stand Buck, the main character. I kind of hoped for more critique of capitalism and the ending was a bit of a let down for me. An engaging narrator and fast-paced read though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs

alexstartsthings's review against another edition

challenging tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Classism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Terminal illness, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Violence, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Outing

david_brent's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, Violence, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Sexual content

cheye13's review

challenging funny tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Wayyy too boot-licky for me.

This is excellently written and maintains a strong voice throughout. The depiction of race relations did not pull punches. The story surprisingly sustained a sense of broad hope.

I wanted more of everything. I wanted it to push further in every way. I wanted a deconstruction of capitalism, I wanted a deconstruction/exploration of masculinity (esp in white vs black spaces), I wanted a deconstruction of ambition. I disagree with reviews that say the back end went off the rails - it didn't go far enough off the rails.

Ultimately, it felt like a middle class cishet black man's white collar day dream - he gets to be a jetsetter, he gets to earn big bucks, he gets a nickname, a driver, a girl - he gets to Save The World. Which is a very good and important story to tell - there's plenty of those white stories out there, and this is miles better than any of those. But pitching it as a Sorry to Bother You comp does it a disservice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Classism, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Cancer, Slavery, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Toxic friendship

also: minor mention/depiction of lynching (in a photograph), moderate discussion of incarceration, discussion of drug dealing in addition to drug abuse. A brief discussion of outing somone, not followed through. The hate crime I tagged is a scene of white coworkers "pranking" the only black employee by dumping white paint over him; not sure if it qualifies as a hate crime, but it definitely felt like one in context.

macykey's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

This book was unhinged from the jump, but in the good kind of way. I will say I wasn’t a huge fan of how the women were talked about in this book, especially Soraya. And the time jumping did leave a lot to be desired, but overall I enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Medical trauma and Torture

Minor: Outing

keeganrb's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, and Racism

moriahleigh's review against another edition

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Grief, Drug use, Hate crime, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

peachani's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Hate crime, Bullying, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Racism, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Ableism, Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

fongyay's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

What a wild ride this was. I devoured it quickly but it was also brutal to read at times, watching a train wreck kind of vibe. The first sections were utterly riveting and the later ones less so, but I was invested enough in the plot by then to keep going. 
Suggested song pairing: Flying Monkeys by Jay Stone

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Racism, Torture, Violence, Cancer, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Homophobia