Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

14 reviews

kyriannaj's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death of parent, and Hate crime

Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

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

happyblkhippie's review against another edition

Ugh I really wanted to like and finish this but the story was all over the place. I didn't know who's was who, or what's going on. Are we in present or in the past. 

The story just moved too slow for me. I read 40% before dnf'g. I struggled to get through the part I did read. It was boring and confusing. I'm not one to "push through" and waste my time on a book I choose to voluntarily read if I don't like it. I typically only give books about 25% before moving on so I was very generous with this one. 

I think the story was probably heading in a good direction, but just took too long to get there. I also didn't care for the writing style. It was too many characters that didn't add to the story and not enough important information to move the story forward. I listened to this on Audible and didn't care for the narrator either. Overall an interesting storyline but poor execution in my opinion. I would give it a 3.25 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Abandonment, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Racism, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

valleysoshady's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I should have known from the jacket that it would be tough to read after experiencing the loss of a parent. And it was. So many themes.  Emigration, community, belonging, racism, feminism, family dynamics, secrets, being different, and so much more.

It made me love my family more, consider my priviledge, reflect on my parents as immigrants alone in a new country, my heritage. 

I loved all of the characters, their flaws, their strength, their damage and their triumphs. I loved the vein of politics and social justice, ever present and gracefully intertwined with the plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Violence, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Grief, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Car accident, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Homophobia

clpaige's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Murder

leos_library's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide attempt and Rape

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

falltumn's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Biphobia, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

nomonbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

5.0

 

This book was really well crafted. As Charmaine says, even when stories are made up they typically contain emotional truths and I felt like this book contained so many. I was particularly struck by the relationship between Benny and her parents. The clear love yet horribly fractured relationship. It really hit me because in most situations of fractured families I can’t imagine getting into that situation. But, in this one there was so much love there it seems like the pitfall was easy. The ending made me cry – and honestly throughout it was so emotional. I also knew nothing about the Chinese-Caribbean experience. I knew that people were brought from India to the Caribbean as indentured labourers but I hadn’t realised it was China too. Also, I hadn’t realised just how many barriers people, like my grandmother faced after coming to the UK for Windrush. I knew about the racism but I hadn’t quite realised the limitation on professional prospects; and just how much of an achievement my grandmother’s qualifications were. Yes, this book was fiction. But it was that magical, educational type of fiction that draws on real emotions, experiences, places and times and weaves them together into a story poignant, beautiful and deftly woven through time and space. This is a must read, and I’m sad it took me so long to start it. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, and Cancer

paulineerika's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

Wow. Just . . . wow. This book had me feeling all the feels at various times, with all the things Covey experienced and all the complicated emotions of her children, learning about her life while dealing with their own shit.  I was heartbroken to see all the missed opportunities between Benny and Byron and in their relationships with their parents, especially Benny. But there was comfort in knowing that Eleanor got Benny's letter with the pictures of the cake and Benny found out that Bert had gone to NY on multiple occasions to see her, even if he never contacted her. And at least Benny and Byron got to finally reconcile.

If I had to quibble about any part of the book, it would be the Marble chapters, which felt a little off-key with the rest of the book and thus slightly jarring, especially the parts with Wanda and Ronald Martin.

The line about how they "did not think of it as buying a baby," but rather "as speeding up the process," as well as the line "Wasn't race an outdated concept, anyway?" really had me cringing.

 

At its core, this is a story about love and resilience--both the good and bad parts of it all. It was an emotional punch in the gut in the best way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs