Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

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

7 reviews

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

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

drummond's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Colonisation, Slavery, Police brutality, Gun violence, Grief, Child abuse, Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

shannon_magee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

Some quotes:

“How can a sustainable future be built through sacrificing the very bearers of that future, through depriving children’s well-being, and worse even, through depriving children the right to be?”

“The biggest problem faced by the Congo’s artisanal miners is that stakeholders up the chain refuse to accept responsibility for them, even though they all profit in one way or another from their work.”

“Meaningful solutions cannot be devised if they are devoid of direct input from those the solutions are meant to assist.”

There are so many things I learned from this book - about the “clean” energy production chain, about cobalt mining, and about Congolese history. The research and firsthand accounts in this book are a significant reminder that all systems and all communities across our world interact and overlap, even if we cannot see where they touch at first. As such, it’s a reminder that when we’re alerted to inequities and injustice in systems and events all over the world, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on them, then to speak out against the injustice, and do what we can to support the communities most directly affected, according to their expressed needs. 

This is a painful, but powerful read and a very necessary one. I have much respect for the author for his work in researching, interviewing, and sharing this with us, and to all those who spoke with him and worked with him in the Congo, who shared their stories to get word out to the rest of us so we can wake up and step up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexism, Rape, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Slavery, Violence, Sexual assault, and Grief

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Thos is an important book. The injustice happening in the congo in real time is unimaginable. 

I can appreciate all the work that the author did to research and write this book. No one seems to really know or talk about cobalt mining even though it's directly linked to our rechargeable devices. I think this book will become more important now that electric cars are being pushed so heavily.

It really makes you think about what other injustices are occuring in the world. Our first world problems suddenly seem so superficial after reading a book like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual assault

Nothing is overly graphic.

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

rachaeln__'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, and Alcoholism