Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns

30 reviews

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.25

 Your Driver is Waiting is the story of Damani, grieving the death of her father, dealing with the realities of being a Brown woman in North America, and juggling looking after her mother with her job as a driver on a ride share app. This is not a book that’s at all subtle about its political messaging. Sometimes that can be hit or miss for me but here it totally worked. I loved the book’s focus on social activism, the way it called out a myriad of social problems and inequalities, most especially the way it highlighted the unfair and exploitative labour practices of ride share apps and business which run on a similar model. I also very much enjoyed Damani as a protagonist. She was kind hearted, smart, often cynical and sarcastic, willing to work hard to try and get ahead but all too aware that society and the government have stacked the odds against her. She was far from perfect, and her obsession with Jolene was one aspect of the book that did not work for me. The character of Jolene though was brilliant - such a perfect caricature, an example of exactly what not to do and how not to behave for any privileged white women who are trying to be an ally and support marginalised groups achieve social change.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Deportation and Police brutality

madanxiety's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This was funny, but it also had some serious/salient commentary on our society. I think I wasn't really in a place in my life to pay attention to it fully, but maybe I'll try reading it again some day to get a better sense of it. It's also been years since I've seen Taxi Driver, so it'd be interesting to watch that again, tho idk if I have the patience for that either - I remember falling asleep the first time I saw it (granted, it was late at night, but I do blame the monotony of the movie in part).

Anyway, what I'm getting at is I think I would've liked the book even more if I'd been able to pay better attention to it because it moves fast and is fairly disjointed, making it easy to miss key parts or lose track of what's going on if you try to passive-listen to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

quinnpjd930's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Gun violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

platypusinrainboots's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Police brutality

sarah984's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

This modern-day reimagining of Taxi Driver blisters right along Damani's wild, self-destructive path, but I felt like it pulled back a little too much in what should have been its biggest moment. Loved the ending, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Stalking, Violence, Classism, Deportation, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Ableism, Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, and Police brutality

floral_heckler's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deportation, Racism, and Police brutality

luisagerdsmeyer's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deportation, Death of parent, and Police brutality

lucylou's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

How unhinged and fairly unpredictable our main character is makes the book something I needed to devour in one sitting. Like other reviews, I wish the author had let us glimpse more into what Damani was thinking, especially when it came to Jolene. We get that she’s as bright as the sun, but how did you feel about her allyship? The pacing was also confusing, but with such short chapters I just pushed through. The last third of the novel made it worth the read, but even then it was vaguer than I would’ve liked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Deportation, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Racism

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Police brutality

Moderate: Deportation

gabydoesgrowth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Xenophobia

Minor: Police brutality, Misogyny, and Drug use