Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

4 reviews

sillyduckie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Blood, Classism, Gun violence, Racism, Body horror, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Ableism, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

meghar's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

Beautiful and evocative language with the theme of the different types of isolation (literal and emotional) - I think this book would have benefitted from being twice the length, allowing the characters to flourish further and the themes to mature; the ending felt a little rushed and abrupt, but all in all a sweet, bittersweet story that doesn’t shy from the realities of colonialism’s lingering effects on community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Drug use

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

 When American tourists haul in a mermaid off the shore of a small Caribbean Island, a local fisherman does his best to save her, only to find that she reverts to being a woman. She is deeply ancient and cursed, and her presence on the island shakes up tensions between the locals. Thematically this explores gender roles, the Deaf community, and the history of colonisation and slavery in the Caribbean. The author is born in Trinidad.

There are some ominous and creepy bits in this book, which meant it fit in well sandwiched between some of my other October reads. It definitely has some supernatural themes.. (duh, mermaid..?!) I think it's well worth checking out the Audiobook version, if only because it catches the accent of the place. Content is a bit violent and bloody, and occasionally sexual in nature, so probably for older readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Racism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Body horror, Grief, Bullying, Colonisation, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Ableism and Sexism

reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was well. 

It didn't necessarily strike me as something special. The writing style was good and the storytelling too. I liked the change of narration and type of it. 
It can make for a good fast read if you need too read something, but in my opinion, it is not that special a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Sexism

Minor: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Slavery