Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo

15 reviews

dnietoperafan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad 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

Bernardine Evaristo is one of my favourite authors... and she smashed it with this novel. It has the perfect balance between humour and seriousness. Evaristo doesn't shy away from important topics to be discussed, and I'm glad she adds her literary touch to them.
I would 100% recommend this book to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Trafficking, Murder, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Child abuse, Slavery, Violence, and Colonisation

feeohnaemily's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Rape, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Child death

mog261's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

absolutely brutal. brilliant, but awful. many, many content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Torture, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Gore, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

alice_ratc's review

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Pedophilia

yaelm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

אני מבינה את הרעיון מאחורי ההיפוך (נראה לי), אבל מעבר לשינויים נסיבתיים זה לא באמת שינה משהו בסיפור העבדות. אם המטרה היא להראות שגזענות זה דבר שתלוי בהתניה תרבותית ושכל טיעוני העליונות/נחיתות גזעית הם מטומטמים, אז כן - זה עבד, אבל אני לא מרגישה שהיה צריך את הספר הזה בשביל זה. מניחה שאני מפספסת משהו (באמת, רפרנסים תרבותיים למיניהם), כי לא מצאתי את זה ״סאטירה מבריקה״. ספר מאוד קריא עם קונספט מעניין וביצוע שלא עמד בציפיות מבחינתי (“Girl, Woman, Other” שלה שקראתי לפני שנתיים הוא אחד הספרים הטובים של השנה מבחינתי, אז היו לי הרבה ציפיות)

שימו לב שיש טריגרים רבים - כל סוגי האלימות

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Racism, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

josy_trapp's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Rape

Moderate: Murder and Miscarriage

sydneybedell's review

challenging dark reflective 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Excrement

helendipietro's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

 I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one as I like the concept but found the plot itself to be anticlimactic. I definitely respect and appreciate the idea but didn’t enjoy it. I listened to this as an audiobook and found it to be an interesting mixture of history and satire. Evaristo, who is of Nigerian and British descent, describes the history of a slave, her family and her owners, with the clever twist that the roles of Britain and West Africa are reversed. In this book those who exploit, murder and rape have black skins, and the oppressed are white. 

Because of the subject matter, it is a very heavy read at times and is something that will stay with you afterwards. However, I found that the novel lacked continuity as the story went on and instead of switching perspectives, I would have preferred to hear more of Doris’s story. Overall, the content was thought-provoking but as a story quite confusing and hard to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Slavery, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Violence, and Colonisation

andreiaoh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

honestly I'd give this 3.75 but I'm not a fan of quarter stars so rounding down to 3.5.

I was slow to warm up to this book and it was not an easy read at all but incredibly powerful and Evaristo's writing was wonderful. I loved the mixed medium style of this novel from standard prose, to non-fiction-esque passages, posters, advertisements and diary entries and I think it definitely made this a little easier to digest, particularly around the half way point.

This novel was simultaneously exactly what I expected as well as took me off guard completely and it'll definitely be a story I'll be thinking about for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, and Excrement

misssophiereads's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence