Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

28 reviews

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Excrement, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Death, Colonisation, Gore, Sexual violence, Child death, Torture, Murder, Blood, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Sexual assault

seph268's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This was an exceptionally hard read; the story is gruesome and left me feeling angry, and a lot of grief. It follows a legendary Jamaican slave revolt, and sheds a light on the true nature of slavery in the West Indies. Marlon James tells a story of the struggle for liberation as a Jamaican man himself, using the native language and incorporating geographical and cultural references. 
This is a book that should be read if one is looking into West Indian history, as it references other revolts in other slave holding island colonies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Genocide, Pregnancy, Death, Misogyny, Gore, Excrement, Classism, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Blood, and Racial slurs

sereyn's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Excrement, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

constancetheeacademic's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

James does a wonderful job of showing how colonialism affects the psychology of those who are enslaved. He crafts an engrossing tale of how the seeds of rebellion are sewn within a community of women on a Caribbean plantation. He also subtly emphasizes the importance of religion and the oral tradition are among the enslaved.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence

mereadme's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Violence, Death, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, and Racism

passionyoungwrites's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Now, I know this is a slave narrative first and foremost but to me it is so much more. This is a story of self - acceptance, survival, and adaptation (as much as you can as a slave). My favorite characters are Lilith, Homer, Dulcimena, and Pallas. 

Through this story there were no dull moments, always something happening and times where you just know you must keep reading. 

⚡️

Lilith and Homer were a pair that was unmatched to me. The two held their own beliefs and were headstrong. They both did things in their own way and that showed true strength. 

The other Night women had their strengths too, but I feel they weren’t as strong as individuals but that’s to be expected due to their then present circumstances. 

⚡️

Lilith mastered her “darkness” to a point where she realized that she must take control of it before it controlled her. Yes, the revolt happened but as you may already know - not much goes as planned when freedom is the supposed outcome. 

⚡️

I don’t know why this book was on my TBR for so long. I can honestly say this would be a book that I wish I could reread for the first time. I love a good revolt slave narrative with spiritualism weaved throughout. 

Any other recommendations of books that are similar to this one, please share. Also, have you read anything else by Marlon James? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Rape, and Slavery

busybeezle's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Physical abuse

amris's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Colonisation, Racism, Torture, Rape, Slavery, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

polyphonic_reads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Gore, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, and Genocide

cass_lit's review against another edition

2.25

I may be in the minority here, but I hated this. I would have DNF’d if I didn’t own a physical copy and I started it for a readathon. But by the end, I was listening to the audio on 3x speed. 

I don’t think I can pick out exactly why I hated it so much. The book isn’t intended to be pleasant or enjoyable — it’s a book about slave women. There are all of the trigger warnings you would expect: violence, rape, racism (verbal and physical), etc. I knew that going in. Beyond that, I expected a different focus of the book. Maybe this was my mistake, but I thought there would be a little bit of magical realism element. I also knew Lilith would be the main character, but I thought the other “Night Women” would play a more important role. I thought their planning and community would be the focus, rather than Lilith’s internal struggles and questions. And it sucks, but I just hated Lilith. I get that she’s young when we start following her. I get that she’s literally never had a free choice or opportunity. I get that she’s born into hell and generational trauma and was made to be stronger than she ever should’ve had to be. But GOD is she ANNOYING. I was rolling my eyes at her constantly and by the end wanted to scream out loud at her to fight. 

Unfortunately, maybe it’s Marlon James and I that don’t mesh well. I also wanted to DNF Black Leopard, Red Wolf and by the end of that was at 3x speed audio as well. People loved that one too but it  wasn’t for me; I thought maybe a different genre would work better (it didn’t). And I’m not saying it can’t ever be done or done well, but there’s something about reading very explicit scenes with the rape of women that were written by men that really take me out of the story. 

The 0.25 was added at the end when you find out who the narrator is. I liked that twist. Also a little unique thing I enjoyed was all of the character names and their allegories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Drug abuse