Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

7 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

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.

jlfields925's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Homophobia, Biphobia, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Racism, Lesbophobia, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Cancer, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Stalking

tetrootz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual violence, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Blood, Body shaming, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

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

thecriticalreader's review

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.25

I picked Black Cake as my free add-on because it was named one of the Book of the Month Club’s Book of the Year Finalists. All of the other finalists I had either read or did not appeal to me.

 

Blurb: 

The book begins with two siblings, Byron and Benny, as they meet together for the first time in years because of their mother’s death. Byron is a successful and famous ocean scientist, who has achieved everything his Caribbean American parents expected of him, yet who struggles with emotional unavailability and interpersonal relationships. Benny is an aspiring café owner who has not spoken to her family in years after they reacted negatively to her dropping out of a prestigious university and coming out as multisexual. They meet together to hear a recording by their mother explaining that her past is not what she has led them to believe, forcing the siblings to reconsider their heritage, relationships, and identities. 

 

Review:

Black Cake has a fluid structure: Wilkerson switches between perspectives, modes of storytelling, and time periods in order to tell her intergenerational story. Instead of being confusing or obnoxious, the constant change between perspectives and time frames serve the story well, as they allow Wilkerson to disclose information at a pace that suits the story as well as address the complexities and backstories of multiple characters. I found Byron and Benny to be a little obnoxious and childish at the beginning, but I grew to appreciate their struggles and personalities as I learned more about their backstories. I also really enjoyed learning about their mother’s history, which was full of twists and turns, and which painted a wonderful portrait of a strong, capable—although not perfect—woman and mother. The symbolism of their mother’s Black Cake recipe beautifully tied the story together.

 

Black Cake is divided into four parts, and by the end of the third part, I felt that things were starting to reach their natural concluding point. However, the book still had another part to it (approximately 140 more pages). As I read part four, I started liking Black Cake less and less. In the first three parts, the tragic accidents and serendipitous twists of fate served the narrative but stopped just short of being unbelievable. Unfortunately, Wilkerson overuses such devices in the fourth part, and the book lost all sense of believability for me.

For example, I was rather confused as to why the main characters were so afraid of retaliation from Little Man's family, despite it appearing extremely unlikely to me that such people would a) piece anything together and b) have the desire, decades later, to do something about it. Perhaps it would have been more believable if Wilkerson had showed earlier on an example of his family being excessively vindictive or clever.

Each improbable turn of events was too coincidental, too well-placed—in short, too fictional. 

 

The story seems to lose focus in part four as it tried to include resolutions for all of its characters, and Benny and Byron’s character arcs fall by the wayside. A couple of chapters seem completely superfluous, especially one in which a completely unimportant side character faces police brutality. The incident is only tenuously related to the main story and is never referred to again after that singular chapter. If Black Cake had stopped while it was ahead around the 250-page mark, it would have been a solid 4 or 4.25 rating for me. Its meandering and unbelievability toward the end, however, brings it down to a 3.25 for me.

 

The Run-Down: 

You will probably like Black Cake if: you enjoy multi-generational stories with complex characters, books that celebrate the diversity of its characters, and themes of heritage, family, personal sacrifice, and identity.

 

You might not like Black Cake if you dislike shifting POVs and large casts of characters. Readers who have a hard time suspending their disbelief when it comes to certain narrative coincidences and connections might also find this book frustrating. 

 

A Similar Book: 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Similarities between these two books include:

·      An epic plot that spans multiple generations of a single family

·      Themes of identity, heritage, belonging

·      A main character who runs away and changes their identity

·      Characters who get caught up in illegal gangster activity

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Biphobia, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Colonisation, Murder, Alcoholism, and Violence

Minor: Stalking, Rape, Police brutality, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Murder, Xenophobia, and Slavery

leahrosiee's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was so beautifully written. 
Family dynamic can be difficult to read but the author beautifully displayed the duality of each family member. Disagreements and misunderstandings abound as these siblings find out their parents dark and mysterious past, as well as their true identities. 

Read for Bad Bitch Book Club

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking and Addiction

Minor: Colonisation, Stalking, and Medical content