Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

28 reviews

averyarden's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Racism, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Addiction, and Hate crime

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Sexual content

mladd28's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Murder, Rape, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

booksnooksandcooks's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Definitely a book I could re-read and pull out parts of the text I never studied before and it could change the whole book.

Beautifully written and the magical realism is both transformative and also bone-chilling. I struggled a bit with the characters and development, but Ward presents the family in such a heart breaking way that the reader weeps alongside them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Cancer, Child abuse, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child death

bookmarkedbyfi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Vomit, Racism, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Cancer, and Drug abuse

socialpsysteph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

3.0

I didn't really know anything about this one when I picked it up. I just knew it had won awards, some people were talking about it, and the cover intrigued me. Turns out, this is a multi-perspective story set in the deep south and explores themes regarding race, family, trauma, and ghosts? I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice helping of magical realism sprinkled throughout and I thought that aspect was done really well and seamlessly. 

This book counts for Popsugar 2022 for an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner and for Whateverathon II for  a book on a previous TBR, last letter -> first letter, and S's on the cover.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Cancer, Vomit, Drug abuse, Racism, and Death of parent

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is really raw and hard-hitting, and it has about every trigger warning possible. It's a world that many of us who are white and middle-class don't know and have been able to ignore as the faraway south. But the issues that this family faces are solvable, and it's all of our responsibility to change policy to put those social programs in place. This book is also a great anti-"classic literature" example - it's lyrical and winding and shows that there is not one way to write.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

fletches's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Racism

sasuke's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

The experience of reading this book is hard to describe, a beautifully written story, harsh and gentle at once, and one that is hard to extract yourself from once you’ve entered from the very beginning and beyond the end. The tension is coiled very tightly and tightens; tension between characters, between times and history, in the physical world and it’s natural and supernatural elements this story occupies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, Death, Murder, Slavery, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Death of parent, Cancer, and Child abuse

ananamauvais's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, and Medical content

caprivoyant's review against another edition

3.5

Ouch. This book hurt to read.

I just... where's the child neglect content warning? I'll just lump it under child abuse. Yeeks.

Was it beautifully written? 100%
Did I think it was a beautifully crafted novel? Definitely.
Would I ever recommend it to anyone else? Probably not.

I'm gonna go journal. Or do some inner-child work. Or... something.

Ow.


⚠️ PS: the police brutality CW below has to do with slavery-like conditions and punishments (whipping, for example) in a prison. That was the best CW I had for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Vomit, Drug use, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Rape