Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

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

9 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

meat_muffin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Genocide, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

Minor: Police brutality, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Sexual assault

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

ecn's review against another edition

5.0

Mandatory reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Sexism, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Body horror, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Cancer, Death of parent, and Genocide

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

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????

jonna_doucette's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Essential reading! Siddharth Kara's "Cobalt Red" is a triumph in human rights and labor reporting. This is what journalism looks like. Matter-of-fact and unflinching in its narrative, this book can and should radicalize all of us to embrace a future of conspicuous consumption.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, and Slavery

tuesday_evening's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, War, Colonisation, Gore, Violence, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Cobalt Red is a book on a subject that I was vaguely aware of, but definitely should know more about. This is one of those books that is horrifically depressing due to the subject matter and at the same time extremely well researched and written. I wish that this could be made required reading when purchasing a smart device. The DRC has been brutalized by colonialism and civil war, so to see it further exploited by Cobalt and Coltan mining is just heartbreaking. 

I did listen to this book on audiobook and I felt that the audio was very well done. Sometimes non-fiction can be a bit dry, but this was narrated well, super compelling, and kept me interested in learning more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Child abuse, Classism, Blood, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Torture, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic