Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

20 reviews

mnatale100's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Abandonment, Confinement, Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Infidelity

nehaanna's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

The writing is evocative and intoxicating. While slow in some parts, the plot moves quickly in the last third of the book as the main character finally reaches his appointed destiny and in so doing, peace with himself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Abandonment, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Classism

srjennings's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Violence, Rape, and Death

jzmnz's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Rape, and Racism

apocalyptus's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Rape

cakrolik's review

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Slavery, Classism, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

litliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Racism, Rape, and Trafficking

ok7a's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Trafficking, Racism, and Colonisation

Minor: Rape and Grief

readbycarina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Violence, Slavery, Grief, Physical abuse, Confinement, Rape, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation, Suicide, Racial slurs, Death, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity and Pregnancy

schausjk's review

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm rather conflicted on how to rate this one. I struggled a lot with getting through the first half of the book. The plot there felt kind of meandering and very slow, even as there were chunks of text that were very poetic. It very much felt like a heavy-handed telling rather than a showing, especially since it was being told in the first person by an older Hiram whose later experiences often colored the retellings of the earlier days. There were a lot of times that details were repeated multiple times, to the point where it felt like the author didn't trust us to remember them, or that readers couldn't be expected to draw out a symbol or a train of thought to its natural conclusion without the author explicitly walking us step by step to it. 

In particular, the way he kept emphasizing that he remembered everything got pretty old.

 There were also a few narrative gaps that left me wondering if I'd accidentally skipped ahead, even though I hadn't.

That being said, I did very much enjoy the magical realism aspect of the book once it became fully fleshed out in the latter portion of the book. It would have been nice to have seen that more gradually and thoughtfully woven in throughout the story, as much of the story felt far removed from it. I've seen some reviewers suggest that the magical realism portion could have been removed entirely to make the story more cohesive, but I disagree as I found it to be the most compelling part of the novel. 

Overall I'm very glad I stuck with this one. I do plan on reading more of Coates' nonfiction work, as his writing style does seem well-suited to that type of writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Rape, Racial slurs, and Violence