Reviews tagging 'Violence'

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

34 reviews

melist6's review against another edition

4.0

emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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This autobiography of a Black man from before the abolition of slavery in the USA is as harrowing as it is essential reading. It has been waiting on my e-reader for a long time because I'm not the best with classics and it 
sounded like a hard read. Well, it is. Of course it is. Solomon Northup spares us none of the hardships and cruelty he suffered at the hands of white people. It’s also a story of résilience and defiant hope, in a way. I wasn’t expecting it to feel so much like the author was standing in front of me and telling his story. I don’t know how much the text was edited for clarity / grammar / spelling, but it was an easier read, language-wise, than I'd expected.
And now I'm off to read something about Black joy for balance. Black History Month is a year-long endeavour, and it should be as much about the past and the fight for Black dignity as it should be about Black power & light.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence

mihai26's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence

jmodef's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Colonisation

kellycmh's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark informative sad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking

lay_kone's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail

midnightstory's review against another edition

4.0

emotional sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death

himpersonal's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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Because it was written in an older form of English, it took a moment to get into the rhythm of it. It helped having watched the movie first, which I admit I liked better than the book. Anyone who excuses slavery as something that happened because it was acceptable at the time needs to read this book to see there were people aside from the slaves themselves who knew and acted on their own moral authority. The “kind” slave owner is a myth to appease white guilt and fragility. Books like this are important to keep our history straight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder

haileyeh's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Violence

writeasiread's review against another edition

4.25

informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping