Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

46 reviews

aahalo's review

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

This was the first set of short stories. I have read in a while, and the first that I had culturally identified with in a long time. These are the stories of our mothers and grandmothers and aunts. There is a sense of familiarity and a sense of sadness that comes with a familiarity. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Death of parent, Abortion, and Bullying

dcfelk's review

challenging emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Tender and critical. Didn't expect to love it like I did. Especially a short story collection! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Infidelity, and Dementia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Homophobia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual content, Abortion, and Violence

buttermellow's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Dementia, Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Physical abuse

savyelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Dementia

axel_p's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Alcohol, Body shaming, Dementia, and Adult/minor relationship

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Dementia

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

jdamae11's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

Wow I loved all of these stories! I’ll be reading anything Deesha Philyaw puts out after finishing this collection. She covers the complexities of mother-daughter bonds, sexism, religion, spirituality, sexuality, and Black life and Black womanhood with so much care, authenticity, and nuance. There were a few times I would go back to reread lines or just pause on a page to appreciate what was conveyed. Adding this to my favorites shelf for sure. The collection opens with an absolute banger with “Eula” and although I really enjoyed all the stories, “How to Make Love to a Physicist” had me screaming crying throwing up it was so amazing. Gunna have to go back and reread that one a few more times. So thankful to the author for putting out this lovely collection!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Dementia

imogenlj's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Cursing, Dementia, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Rape

kendal_reads's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Dementia

Minor: Abortion

felishacb's review against another edition

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Murder

Minor: Dementia, Alcohol, Miscarriage, and Abortion