Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Pregnancy
Minor: Child death
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence
Such a sad story written so beautifully.
I’ve never read a book with such poetic sentences.
This book did feel a little disjointed at times but I think on a re-read would make much more sense.
#2 book club read
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism
Minor: Abandonment
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Grief, Abandonment
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Sexual content
Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit
Some parts invoked a similar level of discomfort as when I read Lolita
Other parts more like the colour purple
Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover’s inward eye.
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Death of parent
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness
Minor: Miscarriage
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Grief, Classism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abandonment
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Classism
For someone who loves complex characters, this should have appealed to me more. However, hopping around to dive deep into the backstories of various characters got me a bit turned around at some points and we don't get a direct POV at all from the main character in question, just other people talking and thinking about her. As a result, while I enjoyed building up each character from the fundamentals of their parents, their childhood, and circumstances, sometimes I just wanted to get back to the main character.
Despite this, there's a lot of important thoughts about the black experience in this book. I believe Toni Morrison suggests in the afterword that since this was her first novel, she was not quite satisfied with it today and would change a few things about it if she were to redo it now. I'd agree and while there are thought-provoking ideas and interesting imagery in this book, it's not my favorite.
It is still very much worth a read, and content warnings for some deeply uncomfortable experiences to do with sexualisation and sexual abuse of a minor.
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse