Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

31 reviews

marena02's review

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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? It's complicated

4.0

I don’t know how to feel about the ending, but I liked this book. I enjoyed reading about Fonny and Tish’s love story, despite its sad and open ending.

For this to be my first James Baldwin book, I think the thing that stood out most to me was his writing from Tish’s perspective. She is seen by everyone around her as naive and overly optimistic, but it’s clear that while she goes through these new and traumatizing experiences of pregnancy and helping her man who is wrongfully incarcerated get out of jail, she is willing to change her mindset with every obstacle that gets in her way. Baldwin shows this in the way she he narrates her perception on the world and how she learns to navigate it alone with Fonny who has always been by her side. Her journey throughout the book was the most interesting to read about.

Like I said, I don’t really understand what he was trying to do with the ending, but everything else I enjoyed.
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cesliecanread's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

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clairecummins's review

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challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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adeenal's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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homebodynate's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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xereads's review

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challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A classic that I think everyone should read because of course so many themes (race, poverty, injustice, classism, grief, and family) and the characters’ experiences are relevant to this day. After finishing the book the reader is left to decipher Fonny’s fate…I will say I wish we knew for sure what happened but through the course of the book this happens a few times.  This book while fiction, to some could also be considered romance as we understand Tish and Fonny’s timeline and the love that develops. But to me the romance shows in how Tish’s parents and sister show their love, through action for her and Fonny.  
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amalas_bookstop's review

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Ughhh! Books like this make me so frustrated in their realness. Even though I knew exactly where this was headed I could not help myself to feel hopeful and expect something different.
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mistermeek's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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franzis_buecher's review against another edition

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4.0

I saw the movie adaptation a few years ago and it was interesting to see some plot points resurface in my memory as I read the book.
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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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fast-paced

4.0

This is my first of Baldwin’s books, and it is easy to see why his work stand as modern classics. For the most part I thought this was a compelling and engaging novel. The sense of time, the love between Fonny and Tish, the examination of racist and unjust ’justice’ system were all very well done. I was however really dissatisfied and frustrated with the layers of sexism and misogyny that permeate every aspect of the writing. It will forever challenge me to understand how the ‘great thinkers’ who have worked so hard to shine a light of the reality of prejudice, power dynamics, systemic injustice, and biased social assumptions - in relationship to race - can be so blind to how all of these impact and influence gender as well. I’m glad to have read this, so I have the cultural knowledge, but it leaves me wanting to go back and reread An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, to reexperience and to compare a novel that examines some of the same social injustices, but from the perspective of a contemporary woman. 
Very cautiously recommended, check CW 
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