Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

33 reviews

beate251's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

This is a book about secrets and forgiveness.

I have first encountered this story as an eight part Disney+ series. Now that I finally got round to reading the book it's based on I can see why some people have problems with the narrative. It feels a lot more disjointed than the series, with a constant back and forth and introduction of seemingly random characters who turn out to be someone we didn't expect. You'll just have to accept that there's a big cast, and we're following them all.

The book deals with a lot of difficult topics (my content warnings are probably longer than my review!) and it sometimes feels like it's too many, even though some, like the rape, are barely mentioned. The TV show fleshes the time in Edinburgh out a lot more.

The writing is beautiful but I would really recommend the Disney+ series - it makes the book a lot easier to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Biphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Medical content, and 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

moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

emotional reflective

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

4.5

This was a sweeping family saga full of twists. There were heavy meditations on personal identity, memory, legacy, and so much more. While the cast of characters was kind of big, it wasn't confusing or overwhelming. While there were parts I'd wanted more from, most of it was really great. It was also interesting to hear about her research process in the author's notes. I listened to this on audiobook and I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes multi-POV can be difficult for me on audio, but this one didn't give me any trouble! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Rape, Medical content, Alcoholism, Cancer, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Car accident, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Colonisation

Gambling addiction, being forced to give a child up for adoption, and discussion of impending climate disaster are also CWs I would add.

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

tamaramo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

jasisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-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? Yes

5.0

A beautiful generational tale about the lengths we go to hide secrets, and the consequences that are felt when those secrets are revealed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Xenophobia, and Alcoholism

Minor: Rape

at different points I did want to shake both Benny and Byron, but I get it… their mother hiding a secret sibling and then dying before all of them could reconcile, would lead to some frustrating behavior

emstewart23's review

emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

specklecommittee's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Captivating story. Murder mystery with character experiences that reminded me of my own Jamaican-British/American family.  Appreciated the queer representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, Cancer, Biphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Rape

estherk809's review

emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

one mom’s kids realize that their present is heavily molded by their mom’s past. i started crying long before i was halfway through the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Bullying

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Biphobia, Murder, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

So much goodness in here. Lots of strands of stories odien disjointed but ultimately all woven back together. Could’ve used a better editor, but overall, an important story to tell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Racism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Biphobia, and Rape