Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

8 reviews

tigerkind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

„A plantation was a plantation; one might think one’s misfortunes distinct, but the true horror lay in their universality.“

A capitivating read, especially interesting if you’re familiar with other (neo) slave narratives. Focusing purely on the reading experience I found the book a bit predictable and the style alienating from the character’s emotions and suffering - but I think it fits the narrative. The story is not indulgent in recounting the emotional and physical horrors of slavery (though they’re there, no doubt about it) but focuses more on perseverance and persistence.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Confinement, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Excrement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Trafficking, Genocide, and Violence

travisppe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Rape, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Racial slurs, and Self harm

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

 The Underground Railroad was a good story, but it's more than that. It's a good reminder. Colson Whitehead uses the narrative to talk about Cora's escape and journey on a literal underground railroad and reminds us of the many injustices against Black folks in historical America. He even pays tribute to the local Native American tribes and discusses land theft and murder.

The story itself was good - it lulled a bit in the middle from a narrative perspective, but that part was so important because it illustrated the persistence of hate. So while the middle exhibited less exciting storytelling, the pause left room for Colson Whitehead to share things like racial eugenics and the emergence of the Klu Klux Klan, which are important, horrifying aspects of our history.

Overall a very powerful book and highly recommended. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Abandonment, and Body horror

Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Excrement

There are many Black characters and multiracial characters. There are a couple Native American characters (tribes not always shared). The book discusses racial eugenics in detail. There is a character who wears human remains as jewelry.

vedpears's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

Wow. What an incredible book. The material is extremely somber and heartwrenching and a consolidation of a great many horrors that real people were forced to endure. 
I truly wish that the railroad aspect wasn't written so literally - unfortunately, I question if it does a disservice to the subject. I know too many people of different backgrounds who are now admitting that they think that "it wasn't as bad as -they- say it was". 
I also wish the ending was a bit more concrete, but perhaps that is fine because the ramifications of slavery in the USA are still present and the disparity between black and white Americans is far too great, still - the story isn't concretely done yet in real life.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, Body horror, Sexual assault, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Medical content, Suicide, Child abuse, and Infidelity

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

---

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

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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? No

4.5

reading others' reviews helped me verbalize some of the weaker points of the book i didn't have time to verbalize bc i was so hooked on seeing how this all panned out. thus, i dropped my official rating to a 4/5 (but on storygraph i'm giving it a 4.5/5).

i'm rating this book higher than a 4 bc i can't deny that this was the first time in a while i've been absorbed into a fictional narrative. for the most part, i enjoyed the pacing, and when things became stagnant, i enjoyed the flashbacks to other characters' plots; i think it helped me to care about the characters other than in Cora and to tie up loose ends.

i agree with others in that there could've been more done with the actual railroad, as it's the title of the book. i also personally got lost a bit in the wording as well as the names of the side characters; i couldn't remember if someone was white or black as slaves obviously were given anglo names, but the author would name drop people from the past and i'd just gloss over it bc i couldn't remember their storyline.

i think it's overall a really captivating, well-researched book. you can tell the author took a lot of time with this story. it's hard to read as any slave narrative would be, so it requires a lot of attention, but i'm glad i read it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

goodoldfashionedidiot's review against another edition

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. 

---

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

lena_and_her_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

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