Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

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

4 reviews

moon_peach's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking but important to read to understand what we are contributing to. Unfortunately things are getting worse but if enough people learn about the real abuses happening we might be able to cause change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Child death, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

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????

montyalmoro's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, War, and Xenophobia