Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

10 reviews

lcl_reads's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

Typically, I enjoy Jodi Picoult, but this one just didn't work for me. She attempts to show there are two sides to every story, but for me, reproductive justice is just not a two sides issue. It is an issue of recognizing the humanity, value, and worthiness of those who bear children and their right to control their bodies and is rooted in historical ways groups have exerted bodily control over others. I recognize this is my reader bias and cognitively I appreciate that this is part of Picoult's writing style and that this book isn't for me.

I found the backwards timeline confusing for character development and made the plot boring and anticlimactic. I kept mixing up character details because of the way the information is doled out. Additionally, I did not find the end of the book very climatic or interesting because so much information is given upfront.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Blood, Violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Medical content, Abortion, and Mass/school shootings

chireadsandchill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child death, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Incest

espressoreader's review

This author obviously dislikes white people, Christian’s, and anyone conservatives.  9% in and she’s trashed all of the above so many times it is more a rant than a story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Classism, Murder, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, and Abortion

This is a rant against anything pro-life, conservative, and Christian. It’s a hate piece wrapped in political “correctness.”

brynhayes's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Cancer, Infidelity, Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Confinement, Death, and Gore

littletiramisu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Abortion, Hate crime, Medical content, and Gun violence

A good story, but the timelines are quite confusing, especially since the book is going back in time and events, and not forward.

bookswithgeorgia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Hate crime, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Death, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

libt11's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Abortion, Blood, Grief, and Hate crime

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Cancer, and Rape

aoifeprettypurplepolkadots's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? N/A

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Abortion, Blood, Death, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Miscarriage

awells96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence

gemmascott's review

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was very brave to tackle such a divisive subject - abortion - and to offer explorations of so many different sides of the debate. It also showed the importance of access to women’s reproductive health care more broadly and how measures designed to prevent abortions actually have a much wider impact. 

However, I would have liked more discussion regarding the aftermath of the event, especially for some of the side characters. Similarly, I wasn’t a big fan of the book’s “backwards” structure - I found it quite repetitive and found myself growing impatient at times, as I felt myself becoming more and more detached from the plot. This had the effect of making me less interested in the characterisation, not more, as I just wanted to know what was happening! 

Altogether though, a nuanced look at a difficult, yet incredibly important topic. The author’a note at the end carried perhaps the most important message of the book - the fact that preventing access to legal abortion, will not make it stop, it will just put more women’s lives in danger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness