Reviews tagging 'War'

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

12 reviews

smilagros's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

I am still boycotting SMP but I think people need to read this book now. There is a genocide happening in the Congo and Sudan and this helps bring awareness to what is happening in the Congo. 

I will forever feel guilty for using the technology I use on a daily basis. People should never be forced into these terrible conditions due to the demand. My heart breaks for every single person who has lost their lives trying to make a living. Listening to the children stories made me angry at the world because they should be playing and learning. Not being forced to do this inhumane labor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Genocide, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, War, Colonisation, Grief, and Gun violence

haleybird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This book was incredibly thought provoking and informative, it’s just really dense and was personally hard for me to get through, but I’m glad I did! It’s difficult for me to keep up with so many acronyms, company names, so much data and stats, etc. 

Regardless of that, however, I do believe this is a book that anyone who uses rechargeable electronics or electric vehicles should read. The more people know about the atrocities that continue to be committed in the Congo for the sole purpose of exploiting their resources, the better. 

I will surely be much more conscious about my consumption of products that use rechargeable batteries moving forward, as I can’t in good conscience keep blindly consuming while children, women, and men in the Congo continue to die indiscriminately. We all need to do better!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Colonisation, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, and Trafficking

melnao1's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

eye opening and daunting. It's crazy the parallels that this life offers. While we scroll on our endless timelines, there are children and adults working in their graves making less than $2 dollars a day to power those screens. The conditions of cobalt mining go way beyond inhumane/exploitation, it was pretty hard to read about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Death, and Colonisation

drought_season's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Colonisation, Misogyny, Slavery, Genocide, and War

Minor: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual assault

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Trafficking, Classism, Confinement, Death, Torture, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

Minor: Car accident and Animal death

ekmartin's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Classism, Child abuse, Slavery, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Medical trauma, Violence, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Rape, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

caseycdelima's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.5

I would give this book a 4.5, but mostly because I listened to it as an audiobook and so it was sometimes hard to follow some of the acronyms and names mentioned. Despite this, I believe this is such an important telling of a story that is not well known among the Western world but something we all are complicit in. The people of the Congo are still wrapped in brutal slavery that speeds forward due to green energy and technological advances hailed in wealthy countries. Kara does an excellent job balancing historical facts, statistics, and personal stories of the Congolese artisan miners and I was horrified by this account and am even more interested in learning more about how we can demand change and freedom for the Congolese.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, and Xenophobia

jasisreading's review against another edition

While I think the connection the author makes between the previous exploitation of the Congo and the current exploitation, is a solid base for a novel it does not go far enough. I wish there had been more interrogation about the companies themselves and what they have been doing. Allowing the interrogation to be interwoven with the personal anecdotes would have been a more impactful. As it is, the writing feels more akin for a long form journal essay than full-length novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Classism, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Colonisation

Moderate: War and Medical trauma

had to DNF when I got the line “While violence is not the answer, I understand why…” when talking about the residents fighting back against the direct harm a mining company was causing them. Like?? That was a takeaway????

tiakiwi's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

The writer explains what's going on in Congo in a way that's easy to understand and shows examples of all the things the world gets from the suffering of the Congolese people. Even adding accounts from miners and children, scientists and other people trying to offer aid.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, War, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

hanhantap's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Violence, Racism, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, Rape, and Pandemic/Epidemic