Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns

28 reviews

the_lesbrarian's review

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Chronic illness, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Racism, and Vomit

binghebun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.0

i really liked the start of this book, didn't like the middle, then really liked the last third. this novel has a lot to say and i think it's very successful at it, if a little unsubtle at times. damani is a great protagonist, and her struggles at home, her descriptions of her car and its riders and her strong belief in herself really invested me in her character. i loved her friends too. my main barrier to completely falling in love with this book is the writing style, which i have no way to describe other than 'contemporary first person' — it just really just doesn't work for me as i find things are overexplained when they don't need to be. the writing itself was solid, however, so overall a really good debut by priya guns and i'd be very interested in checking out whatever she writes next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence and Stalking

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Sexual content, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Animal death

l0v3lu's review against another edition

funny medium-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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Deportation, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Classism, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Racism

Moderate: Stalking and Police brutality

amsswim's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.5

 I enjoyed this one a lot, despite the massive amounts of mixed reviews. I love reading and watching content about unhinged women. I think it appeals to me more than the unhinged men trope (i.e. Taxi Driver, which this book is a modern reversal of) is that women are not at the top of the hierarchy of oppression, so it doesn't feel meaningless, unwarranted, and solely dangerous. To me, it feels more justified. Add layers of other injustices like racism and classism, and you start to unpack intersectionality and why this book appeals to me so much more than Taxi Driver does. But maybe I am just an unhinged woman as well..

Short chapters, very funny. I listened to it, which went really quick (6.5 hrs), and was ready by the author. Don't be a Jolene and tip your drivers. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Classism, Car accident, Death of parent, Police brutality, Grief, Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

binevolentbookworm's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

in your driver is waiting, priya guns packs a punch to the gut with an unrelenting, stream of consciousness writing style, examining how resistance can be glorified if, and only if, the resistor fits within the context that is deemed appropriate (i.e. white, peaceful, has “done the work”) by western standards. but if that person doesn’t fit the mold, isn't neatly packed into this box, if they dare to exist in black or brown bodies, if they are angry and organizing, and demanding more than “the work” - then it’s considered violent, threatening, and dangerous. 

i highly recommend listening to the audiobook. guns delivers a fantastic performance, barreling off the page and into the stark reality that this book aims to confront. there is lasting significance in guns social commentary that seems particularly poignant today amidst our current political atmosphere and the global call for a ceasefire in gaza. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Classism, Police brutality, Colonisation, Death of parent, Racism, and Islamophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Deportation, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Stalking, and Trafficking

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, Deportation, and Gaslighting

lynxpardinus's review

dark funny reflective tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Police brutality

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Animal death, Drug use, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.25

 Your Driver is Waiting is the story of Damani, grieving the death of her father, dealing with the realities of being a Brown woman in North America, and juggling looking after her mother with her job as a driver on a ride share app. This is not a book that’s at all subtle about its political messaging. Sometimes that can be hit or miss for me but here it totally worked. I loved the book’s focus on social activism, the way it called out a myriad of social problems and inequalities, most especially the way it highlighted the unfair and exploitative labour practices of ride share apps and business which run on a similar model. I also very much enjoyed Damani as a protagonist. She was kind hearted, smart, often cynical and sarcastic, willing to work hard to try and get ahead but all too aware that society and the government have stacked the odds against her. She was far from perfect, and her obsession with Jolene was one aspect of the book that did not work for me. The character of Jolene though was brilliant - such a perfect caricature, an example of exactly what not to do and how not to behave for any privileged white women who are trying to be an ally and support marginalised groups achieve social change.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Deportation and Police brutality

madanxiety's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This was funny, but it also had some serious/salient commentary on our society. I think I wasn't really in a place in my life to pay attention to it fully, but maybe I'll try reading it again some day to get a better sense of it. It's also been years since I've seen Taxi Driver, so it'd be interesting to watch that again, tho idk if I have the patience for that either - I remember falling asleep the first time I saw it (granted, it was late at night, but I do blame the monotony of the movie in part).

Anyway, what I'm getting at is I think I would've liked the book even more if I'd been able to pay better attention to it because it moves fast and is fairly disjointed, making it easy to miss key parts or lose track of what's going on if you try to passive-listen to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent