Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

26 reviews

sophisticotton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

I really can’t rate this book yet. What I can say is that it makes me think, I love the changing perspectives, and I think it belongs in a modern afro futurism course. Would love to see it taught in comparison with Chain Gang All Stars or Parable of the Sower. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Colonisation, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Slavery, Toxic relationship, War, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Torture, Confinement, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

salemander's review

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Slavery, Hate crime, Racism, Child death, and Gun violence

hanz's review

dark emotional slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Confinement, Racism, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Grief

sarahbethhh's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Onyebuchi’s turns of phrase make this already compelling story memorable. His command of language, his approach to the devastating — truly breathtaking. An absolutely necessary read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Child death, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Hate crime, and Death of parent

frankieclc's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Medical content

roorooreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

4.0

This was a challenging book for me. It was a great story blending fictional/fantasy characters with a contemporary setting. But I struggled to keep up with it sometimes. There were a lot of tome jumps, forward and backward  and I struggled to keep track of where we were and who we were with and why certain things had come to pass. However I also see the importance of this book and was fascinated by Ella's character and wish we had spent more time with her and the development of her powers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Police brutality, Gun violence, Medical content, Body horror, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Blood, Cancer, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Cursing, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug use and Sexual violence

cutlet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

This was my first audiobook and it was incredibly powerful to listen to the author read their story. This feels like it should be mandatory reading for all white people, to better understand Black history in the US and the intergenerational trauma it carries with it. The main characters absolutely pulled me in, but it was at times difficult to keep track of when and where something was happening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Colonisation, Murder, Slavery, Cancer, Classism, and Racial slurs

nettleviolet's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I came into this book thinking it was more sci-fi and/or fantasy and there's some of these elements, but it more feels like magical realism until the very end, which introduces some sci-fi elements. I was also hoping for more revolution and I felt like the book was building towards it but never really gave me the catharsis I thought I would get.

However, though this was not what I expected, I really liked this book. The prose was riveting and brilliant and I read the book in one session (which was not hard because it's quite short, only 172 pages). 

The book primarily focuses on two siblings, Kev and Ella, and their experience of being Black, and dealing with incarceration and the experience of being Black in a world where the police kill Black people regularly. Ella has magic powers, but they feel less fantasy-esque and more magical realism -- a device for telling the story of how they each navigate Kev's incarceration and the outside world of police violence. 

Towards the end

when Kev is released back into the outside world

we do see a lot more sci-fi elements added in, but they definitely didn't define the world for 85% of the book. 

Overall, this book is raw and real and I cried several times, and was confronted by my privilege walking through the world as a white person. If you're looking for a fantasy/sci-fi novel, I would not recommend this. However, as a magical realism literary fiction, 100% read this! (and if you're white, you should just read this no matter what you're looking for). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, and Police brutality

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Death of parent