Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

7 reviews

sperzart's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Racism

haley313's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

Gut-wrenching and emotionally taxing from start to finish, but written beautifully. I love Jesmyn Ward’s prose - it’s so raw and visceral. An important story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Racism, Rape, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

kathrynjl's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.75

Let Us Descend is a beautifully crafted but challenging read; truthfully, I don’t know how to rate it. Ward’s prose is lyrical and evocative, but this story is so slow-paced and deeply sad that I’m not sure if I actually enjoyed reading it. Things started to pick up for me in the last third of the book, and the ending is hopeful. I look forward to reading more of Jesmyn Ward’s books because her style is magnificent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Confinement, Genocide, Excrement, Misogyny, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

ginabelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

An essential and uncomfortable read depicting American slavery, sprinkled with supernatural elements. The spirits were a little beyond me at times, but the concept of descending into hell to hone your weapons, wit, and power of self to ultimately ascend into true freedom (in every sense) was so beautiful!! This was my first Jesmyn Ward book and she is amazing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Sexual harassment

laynemandros's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Glad I started off the year with such a banger, and if my first book of 2024 indicated how the rest of my reading year will go, then we’re off to a good start. 

One thing about me is that I love Jesmyn Ward, she’s hands down one of my top five favorite authors of all time. I expected to be blown away by this book because I’ve had visceral, emotional reactions to all of her work (I’ve read all of her books except “The Fire This Time), but I wasn’t. To be clear, I enjoyed this read, but I wasn’t as enthralled with this one as I have been with Ward’s work in the past. I guess it might be a little unfair to compare her books to each other when so many of them are my absolute favs. 

I have no bones to pick with this book, if you like beautiful, moving writing with layered prose and incredible plot execution then you’ll want to pick this one up. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I felt the middle of the novel lagged for me a bit. I feel like this might be twofold, I’m not really a fan of historical fiction or magical realism— two things that dominate this novel. 

As always, the climax and falling actions of Jesmyn Ward’s writing absolutely captivated me. This is a beautiful and complex story of ancestry, particularly motherhood, of Black women who were enslaved in the south. The motif of water and the reclamation of water after the trauma of ancestors being forcibly transported to America via the Atlantic Ocean was particularly poignant for me throughout this read. 

Not much else to say about this one, Jesmyn Ward never misses. In 2024 I hope to check off the last book of hers that I’ve yet to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Confinement, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Excrement, Slavery, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization

mamaofperfectpayton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.75

Absolutely excellent writing - beautiful descriptions that made me feel like I was there. But it was a book about slavery, which made it difficult to read and I didn’t want to feel like I was there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, and Violence

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

3.75

this story was so poetically written, it was beautiful to read.
it wasn’t too long, the perfect time to tell the story as needed without dragging on.
annis’ story is just so tragic and you think it can’t get worse but it continues to do so.
although difficult this was a really important read; exploring a young woman’s perseverance through loss, grief and insurmountable odds, with magical realism interwoven through the pages to provide hope and guidance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Xenophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Rape, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt