Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

8 reviews

grandpas_farts's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This short story collect kept getting so much buzz. The buzzing finally became loud enough I took a bite. Happy I did! This book may be titled Secret Lives of Church Ladies, but scripture doesn't really play into the stories. This is not a "preachy" book and more of a cup of tea.

In each short story we explore the lives of various women, throughout various decades, places, life stages, and situations of life. Anyone who has grown up in/around church culture will know some of the people in a few of these stories. This collection shines a light on what happens when the gossipers hang their laundry out to dry. He who is without sin and all of that!

My favorite short story was "Instructions for Married Christian Husbands" because it connected to "Peach Cobbler". Here we have a daughter (did we ever get her name), that never wanted to turn into her mother. As we see from the article or Facebook post, whatever it is she made, she has ultimately turned into... her mother.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Dementia

Minor: Cancer, Lesbophobia, Child death, Abortion, and Death of parent

katndrsn's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child death, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse and Gun violence

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Murder

shieldbearer's review

emotional reflective medium-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

Every story was so well crafted with nuanced characters.  Highly recommended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Infidelity, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Racism, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Dementia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Car accident, Child death, and Cancer

dalmavatai's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

5.0

Ahh this short story collection was so impactful and gripping, I loved every single second of it!

All of the stories in here deal with desire, pain, grief, love, family, and Christianity, and all of them do it brilliantly and beautifully. All of the characters are vivid and relatable - they are not without their flaws, in fact these flaws are often prominent in the stories, but they are portrayed with such compassion and humanity that you can't help but feel for them. Every story is unique but what unites them all is their exploration of how Black women navigate desire and pain, love and grief, often simultaneously. 

Such a beautiful collection full of humanity, exploring the universally human desire to be loved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Racism

sarahaf712's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Body shaming

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Dementia

Minor: Abortion, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, and Terminal illness

caseythereader's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

📚 Can a review just be entirely the 🤯 emoji? Asking for a friend.
📚 So many voices with so many conflicting feelings and dreams and obligations and small freedoms. There's not a dud in the group.
📚 This book prodded at all the ways the Christian church in America can push someone down, trying to force them into molds they don't fit. Some stories were all about that, and in some the church was just a shadow in the background, which I loved.
📚 Each story was in some way about boundaries - how much church to let in, who you have relationships with, when you allow someone in to see the messiness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Dementia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content