Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Removed by Brandon Hobson

11 reviews

catsbreadbikes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Child death

Moderate: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Police brutality, Cancer, Dementia, Child death, Colonisation, and Cursing

readingwithkaitlyn's review

reflective fast-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: Ableism, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Drug use, Gun violence, Dementia, Drug abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality, Suicide, Stalking, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Confinement, Alcohol, Addiction, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Genocide, Colonisation, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Car accident, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Fire/Fire injury

Trail of tears, f slur, s slur.

litliz's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Murder, Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Police brutality, and Racism

spinesinaline's review

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I am so glad that I unintentionally read this so closely to Why Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice, and honestly I’d highly recommend reading them in conversation. Justice’s book is a non-fiction examination of existing Indigenous literatures across genres but part of his examination involves an autobiographical look at his own family and experiences as members of the Cherokee Nation.

Hobson’s book on the other hand is a fictional account of a Cherokee family dealing with loss and ongoing trauma from the very real displacement of the Cherokee Nation, otherwise known as the Trail of Tears. Moving from a more academic text to this emotional and haunting display of what trauma can do to the body, families, and relationships was an incredible way to gain a more embodied sense of this history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Cancer

blackcatkai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

CW: racism, casual ableism, police brutality  gun violence, murder, child death, drug/alcohol use, addiction, violence, animal death, grief, physical/sexual assault, mental illness

not my usual genre, so it took a bit for me to get into, but thats absolutely not the books fault. its a heartbreaking and great novel about a family navigating their grief after the death of their son/brother at the hands of a cop. it handles a lot of rough topics so tread carefully. if you're in any way interested, absolutely read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcohol, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Addiction, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Cancer, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Police brutality, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism

voxelbee's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Police brutality, Child death, Violence, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Dysphoria, Cancer, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Torture, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

stevie's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, and Genocide

literarylion's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Pros:

• flawless incorporation of Cherokee legend into a modern-day story
• each of the perspectives were developed and distinct from one another while still maintaining an underlying narrative thread
• striking imagery

Cons:

• it's being marketed as a horror novel, but I wouldn't classify it that way
• the sci-fi/fantasy element in Edgar's story seemed incongruous at times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Cancer and Sexual content

suzyreadsbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, Grief, and Child death

Minor: Cancer and Gore

briwithabook's review

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

 This book focuses on the Echota family, and the way each family member experiences grief and is living their lives 15 years after Ray-Ray, their 15 year old son/brother was shot and killed by a police officer.

I had really high expectations for this book going in. It sounded extremely timely and like it would really be something I could connect with. Every adult has experienced grief at some point in their lives, and I was interested to see the way each family member handled the loss of Ray-Ray. However, I did not necessarily feel a connection to any of them. Maria, the mother and matriarch of the family, was the one for whom I had the most empathy. I felt sad for her and all that she endured. With one child gone, another addicted to drugs, and a husband suffering from Alzheimer's, she was surely dealing with a lot. I also liked Wyatt, but wish I had been given more of his story.

However, I found a lot of the book to be far-fetched and so strange that I expected certain storylines to be revealed as a dream or fantasy world. There were things that made no sense in a realistic world, and they were never explained in a way that was satisfactory to me.

And as much as I didn't connect with the story, I do actually think it should've been longer. I think that would've allowed the storylines to be more fleshed out and given the reader a better understanding and more complete picture of each character. It felt like so much was crammed into each person's story, but none of it really went any deeper than the surface.

While I liked the idea of interspersing Native American folklore into the story, I didn't feel like it was executed well. I actually found those chapters to be disconnected from the rest of the story. They almost seemed like "filler" and I didn't feel as if they tied into the overall plot of the book very well. I don't know if it just went over my head or if others will feel the same way.

Overall, I felt that the author tried to add in too many plot points without enough depth. It tried to cover a lot of important topics, but didn't give any of them enough exploration to be worthwhile. I also think that having Ray-Ray having been killed by a police officer served no real purpose in the story. He literally could have died any other way and the rest of the story could've been kept largely the same.

There was one plot point in Sonja (the daughter's) story, and one small encounter at the end of the book that tied into that part of the plot, but otherwise, it didn't really serve any purpose.

That all being said, I am sure that some people will love this book. It was a fairly quick read, and I did like that the chapters were short and we got to see things from each family member's viewpoint. I am admittedly not a very abstract reader, and too much of it was unrealistic for me to enjoy the book. 

I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Confinement, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Cancer, and Racism