Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

45 reviews

quixie'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Trafficking, Child death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Slavery, and Violence

eggfartz's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, War, Alcohol, and Body horror

flara's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

Beloved tackles many difficult themes, given its historical context (black community post-American Civil War). This was rather mysterious and confusing read. I found the pace quite slow, which wasn't helped by the 'mystical' mood and language used throughout. I struggled to distinguish what line belonged to which character; if what was said was an actual line or if it was a description, and so on. 

I didn't go into this blindly. I knew the basic premise of the book and therefore had high expectations. I did not expect it to be about a ghost that haunts its dysfunctional family and later materialises in flesh (and then dissolves into thin air altogether at the very end).

Certain passages are quite graphic and potentially triggering for some. I suppose that the supernatural elements offset some of the cruelty, but it just wasn't the right fit for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Murder, War, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

lindalou22's review

4.5

It’s powerful, full of Black history and the ghosts that haunt us all. Vivid, shining, and sad. Underneath all the words is the shifting stream of emotional pain and an endless well of love. I found this book in the poetry category of Libby and I think it’s aptly filed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

spossum's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Blood, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: War, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

wornpagesandendlesscoffey's review

While I am absolutely certain that this book is phenomenal, it is not one that I was able to get through unfortunately. I was aware going in that child loss was a theme, but I was wholly unprepared for the way that that seem would play out within pages of this book. I will absolutely try another of this authors books at a later date. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Blood, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Incest, Murder, and Slavery

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Torture, Violence, Rape, Slavery, Confinement, Grief, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Self harm, Trafficking, Gun violence, War, Death of parent, Genocide, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, and Excrement

notthatcosta's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

I had read about Margaret Garner last year and it has stuck with me ever since. I was deeply moved by the ingenuity and vision it took to take that story and build a wider world around it that encompasses the horrors of slavery with themes of motherhood, family, shame, religion and community in a way that is tender and gut wrenching but also cathartic.

This book is difficult to rate because so much of my enjoyment of it stems from the lore around it and the inspiration, much of which comes from the forward of this edition. The book itself is of course excellent, but at times difficult to follow.

Although the more abstract passages and the tragedy of Beloved, Sethe and Denver as characters made it difficult to get through, this is a book that will remain with me for some time, I feel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Slavery, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

razorfangz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

Read this for class and really loved it. It's a very difficult read both due to the subject matter and how it's written, but very worth it if you can stomach it. The prose is beautiful and does a perfect job of being reflective and tense. Sethe is a very tragic protagonist and while the decisions she makes are horrifying, you fully understand how and why she came to be this way and know that at the end of the day she doesn't deserve it. Being vague of course, but read it for yourself. Again, if you can handle the subject matter, give it a chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Body horror, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

This one is a Lot. It is upfront and brutal about its themes and can be very uncomfortable (which is the point).

annelihghh's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual content, Mental illness, Child death, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, and Racism