Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

68 reviews

taylorbutze's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual assault

coderedkira's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

I think if I reread this book in the future it could be 5 stars. It was beautifully written and tackled important topics very well, but I wish we had spent more time with most of the characters. It was short, slow paced, and from multiple perspectives, which all together sometimes made for a hard read. But the thread that tied all the characters together was very compelling and made me want more. I'm glad I read it but gosh I wanted it to be longer and I think it would be more poignant as a reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: War, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Racism, and Cancer

savannahtrice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i want to curl up in a ball and sob for the rest of my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail

samkennedy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Racism, War, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Murder

gemstone's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide

writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

 Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia ❤️‍🔥
🌟🌟🌟✨
🏆 Winner of my personal Most Beautiful Book Cover Award

❤️‍🔥 The plot: From a cigar factory in 19th century Cuba to modern day Miami, through three generations of a Cuban family and one mother and daughter from El Salvador, Of Women and Salt explores mother-daughter relationships across time, over borders, and through the impossible hardships of addiction, upheaval, abuse, and racism.

You know when you meet someone you really like, and you hang out with them a few times and have a great time, then for no reason you can really discern it never goes anywhere? The kind of person you'll think about in a few years' time and think it's a shame you didn't get to know each other better, but also feel no great loss over? That was me with this book.

It really drew me in in the beginning. Maria Isabel was a fascinating character and I was really interested in the setting of 1866 Cuba. But then - as happens frequently throughout the novel - her narrative gets cut off as Garcia jumps to the next character. Mostly, I didn't feel like the proliferation of new characters and perspectives added much to one another on an emotional level, as Jeanette and her mother Carmen were the only ones you really spent enough time with to get to know. There were lots of points where it felt like short stories that had been stacked up together - individually, they were quite effective vignettes, but they didn't really have the strength to support a longer narrative.

One thing I did like, though, was how well Garcia demonstrated the proximity of the personal and the political. The personal crisis of Jeanette's addiction in the larger context of the opioid crisis; the ways in which border policies traumatise children and families. And while the different characters' perspectives didn't add much to each other in terms of making you feel for them, they did illuminate each woman's unique hypocrisy in a way that made them all feel more real.

I won't go into the ending except to say that it felt abrupt and a bit anticlimactic and I'm (appropriately) a little salty about it lol 

 ❤️‍🔥 Read if you like short stories, mother-daughter relationships, and multi-generational narratives like Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. 

🚫 Avoid if you hate short stories, or aren't able to read about addiction, sexual violence, or the immigration system right now (there are quite a few harrowing detention centre scenes) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism and Death of parent

h_andreanne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Blood, Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, and Death of parent

spongebobbiii's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Addiction

mamadonna's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

An exploration of Salvadoran and Cuban women across generations and their immigration to the US.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexism, and Sexual violence

lilymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If I could give this a hundred stars I would. This was a rollercoaster of emotions, and I honestly don't know how I feel other than in absolute awe of the beauty this book held.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Sexual harassment, Racism, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Colonisation, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence