Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

159 reviews

jocelynbold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

emikateb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

juliabegeman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Violence

Moderate: Rape

asche's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

lmsokol18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.5

A dark but important book with an alternative history of the Underground Railroad. The book loses momentum at points, but I was rooting for Cora throughout. I would have loved more time spent on the railroad itself as well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

ailbheclaire's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

Incredible story, masterfully written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture

readingwithcoffee's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Stalking

sellnow_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.5

This book is hard to rate. I think I was hoping for a little more magical realism given the reimagining of the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad, but that reimagining didn’t seem to add as much to the plot as I’d hoped. The story is a heart breaking and a brutal look at slavery and the many abuses Black people have endured in this country (taken with a grain of salt as it’s not 100% historically accurate). But the pacing of the novel was clunky and in each new setting there were many new named characters to keep track of with very little character development. Overall for me it was just ok. 

Satisfied the StoryGraph 2024 genre reading challenge prompt for a historical fiction set before 1900.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Murder

Moderate: Rape

jumbledjess's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

As you can imagine, when talking about enslaved people you have to show the injustices, brutality, and dehumanization that occurred to make this part of history possible. This book does exactly that and looks at America’s past with an unflinching gaze. While definitely not an easy read, it was hard to put this story down because I wanted to know what happened next (though there were moments when I had to stop because the violence was graphic). Definitely not for the faint of heart, but definitely a necessary narrative to have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

joshuapeck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

This was a challenging read, to experience a fictionalized version of slavery and the underground railroad with so many connections to the true history and true themes of that era — the arbitrariness of death and survival, rape, freedom and bondage, and what freedom really means. It was at times hopeful and joyful, and at other times completely devastating. It was an amazing read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence