Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

8 reviews

reddeddy's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Sexism, Racism, Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Blood, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

saraavowlerr's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Cursing, Grief, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

katelynprice's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Dysfunctional family stories are my catnip, and so are multiple POV coming together to make one big interconnected story. Wilkerson writes both of these elements beautifully in this novel. This was a perfect read for Caribbean Heritage Month because it had a strong sense of place and was steeped in history, culture, and heritage. It was apparent that she did her research! I loved the focus on: the connection between people and nature, traditions in families, loyalty, and identity. Reading this book made me reflect on how much other people shape us as individuals. Plus, I'm always on board for a book with short, easy-to-devour chapters. Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Abandonment, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Minor: Sexual harassment

kimveach's review

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book.  It had some of my favorite elements:  dual time lines, interesting history, flawed people.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Grief, Racism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Biphobia, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

ejanephillips's review

emotional informative mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Police brutality, Murder, Suicide attempt, Death, Rape, Pregnancy, and Racism

reggiethebird's review

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Police brutality, and Colonisation

annabulkowski's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Death, Cancer, Biphobia, Addiction, Rape, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Slavery, Outing, Murder, Homophobia, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, Child death, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Racism, and Misogyny

mcz_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Black Cake is an expansive tale about family secrets. I appreciated that the story was heavily character-driven, but still had twists and reveals that made it as propulsive as any bestseller. The story is told through short chapters that act as vignettes highlighting a character's perspective, a subject, or an object. The focus on these moments gave each scene room to breathe, allowing emotions to expand and images to linger. This writing style, as well as the "then" and "now" timelines, was an effective approach to the story. The writing was descriptive and I mostly enjoyed the author's use of language; there were moments when I felt the writing was telling instead of showing, but mostly I thought it worked well.

Like many debuts, Black Cake addresses many topics to varying degrees of success. I thought the ideas of the environment, particularly the welfare of the ocean, and the exchange of food across cultures elevated the main storyline. These ideas are relevant to a family shaped by island life. The scenes regarding police brutality didn't feel as organic to the story. Byron's concerns in the beginning of the book make sense, but the escalation later in the book felt like a casual use of a serious topic, which was off-putting. As the book tied up all the storylines at the end, the pace felt rushed and the timelines started to fray. I loved reading this book and always looked forward to picking it up, and I wish the end had been handled as well as the rest of the novel.

Still, this is an impressive debut. I would happily read more novels by Wilkerson. I think this is a well-crafted book that would be enjoyed by fans of contemporary fiction and historical fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Cancer

Minor: Sexual assault