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nyxtingale's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Racial slurs
spines's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Not a spooky Halloween book but very scary to read nonetheless
Graphic: Racism
khalih05's review
- 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? No
3.5
Moderate: Slavery, Murder, Hate crime, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content
benwoll's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Racism
laird_br0wn3's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
1.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism
vulturetime's review
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
alicelalicon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Animal death, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Confinement, Slavery, Murder, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, and Violence
tiffany8's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Violence and Racism
peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Confinement, Police brutality, Violence, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia
Minor: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Child death, Death, and Antisemitism
ignescentsky's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I picked this up because the premise of the tv series was really interesting but I knew I wouldn’t have an HBO max sub for a while and wanted to read the book first anyway.
It is short story format which I normally dislike, but they are all related and tie together nicely at the end so I’m willing to look past that. It did make it easier to read in shorter segments. With most of the stories I wished they had been extended a bit longer to add to the buildup/intrigue.
The stories are set some time in the 1950s and mostly follow various members/friends of a black family as they interact with the supernatural.
One of the many interesting aspects of this book was the brief exploration of tension between liking a genre and having to deal with its abundance of racist elements and authors. I appreciated that the author had notes at the end which provided sources on the history and sources of inspiration for the work; it sounds like someone wrote a larger piece exploring this which acted as inspiration.
Content warning for racism and sexism to a lesser extent, violence
Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Sexism