Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

132 reviews

jeggert10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, War, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual violence and Cursing

Minor: Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Excrement

ezplonk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

Deeply profound.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: War

kristinebraley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This book was beautifully written and narrated by the author. The story was brutal and difficult and that was part of the beauty, especially following the story arc of the character called Denver. There were many lovable characters, hate-able as well.  The magical realism was masterfully written. I will most likely have to read this with my own eyes in order to grasp a few of the more esoteric scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Infidelity, and Racism

viporras's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Miscarriage, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, War, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Vomit, Alcoholism, Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Sexual harassment

bluecanarylite's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

Beautiful, powerful, haunting.  Not an easy read but worthwhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, and Hate crime

artemisg's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

Once you settle into the way this is written it is absolutely gorgous and heartbreaking and atmospheric. There are several different timelines with no introduction and several different points of view - complete with narrative changes (from third- to first-person POV with no preamble). Once you have a moderate handle on that, you can appreciate the absolute beauty of the writing style. Every word is used with such purpose, and he sentence structures and so intentional and beautiful.

They were not holding hands, but their shadows were.

This book follows Sethe, a resident of 124 Bluestone Road. The house holds her and her daughter, Denver, and the ghost of another daughter who dies in infancy. Paul D, a man from Sethe’s past as a slave, joins the house. Then, a a mysterious woman with unlined hands and dark, dark eyes turns up. She calls herself Beloved, the word engraved on the gravestone of Sethe’s dead daughter. Us readers, and the characters, try to decipher where Beloved came from, and if she is the spirit of the dead daughter or not. We fall in and out of love and fear with her. We also follow the lives of Sethe and Paul D when they were slaves at a farm called Sweet Home (it is anything but either of those things) before they escaped. It is brutal and vile and violent and hard to read. All of this is hard to read while being beautiful and smooth.

Clever, but schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers - not the defined.

This book is am accomplishment and I am glad to have read it, and understood it as much as I could. Gorgeous prose, a heartwrenching story that I know is based in history, with lovingly crafted characters.

“Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence

kendallreallyreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

A beautiful and heartbreaking read. The brutality of slavery and its effects combined with breathtaking prose. It is a complex read and pushes the bounds of the literary format even decades after it was written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, and Child death

ctatu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

rkorevenge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

This was one of the most gut wrenching and beautifully written novels I have ever read. Sethe has a ghost story that will haunt you forever. Toni Morrison grabs your throat from the first page and chokes your hope right until the last line. Probably the most disturbing and important novel ever written. CHECK THE TRIGGER AND WARNINGS. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Dementia, Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexism, Child death, Colonisation, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Body horror, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Sexual assault

mx_sunshine's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

5.0

This took me over a month to read. It was really difficult to get through. I was left feeling stunned and empty at a lot of points. Toni Morrison is a fantastic author. She put so much into this book. I’m so grateful that she wrote it. I won’t ever be able to forget some of the striking images she described.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Racism, Slavery, and Violence