Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - The Mermaid of Black Conch

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

15 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I loved the narration! It has two narrators for the two POVs and it was well done, the main narrator does an amazing job of voices! I loved getting the mermaid’s Pov and wish we had more from her. Her narrative was told through a sort of prose while David’s is told through third person and journal entries.

I enjoyed the cast of characters for the most part. They’re all so complex and intriguing but at one point it did get confusing tracking them all, I think mostly because I listened to the audio version.

Not a fan of how sexual the book is. The talk about wanting to do things to the mermaid and sexual organs was a little excessive for me. I hate when authors use “her sex” to describe body parts, it makes me cringe 😭 and the amount of men feeling things “in their balls” or how often the author brought up how innocent and young the mermaid was, in turn making her “better” than the rest of the women was uncomfortable.

I liked the intertwining of mythology and folklore into the story, as well as the discussions of colonialism and wish there was more of that and less sex.

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abicolee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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sillyduckie's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

misty_kb's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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meghar's review against another edition

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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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erebus53's review against another edition

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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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