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A review by bigolscrewup
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
3.75
untold stories shape people's lives both when they are withheld & when they are revealed
Everything is connected to everything else, if you only go far enough back in time
3.75/5⭐
I don't know if this is because I'm coming off of reading a lot of action/crime books, I just couldn't understand the need for secrecy. Other than that, I absolutely loved the book. I didn't like the prose at certain parts of the book but it didn't ruin the story in anyway for me. So many social and political issues are discussed in this book, but I would have loved those discussions in the book more if the author had named them explicitly rather than trying to convey something without actually naming it, which just leaves a bad taste for me, although, again it could be a "me" thing and it's not like other readers would feel how I felt when reading those parts of the story.
Even though it's labelled as a mystery with a mention of "murder" in the blurb, I just couldn't care much about it, reading this book, I felt like it was inconsequential, because so much had happened to Eleanor in the last five decades, that I just felt like she and everyone else are making a big deal out of it ? Even though I had that feeling, I still enjoyed this book and it made me smile and cry in various moments. Hoping to catch the TV show that was adapted from this book next
Everything is connected to everything else, if you only go far enough back in time
3.75/5⭐
I don't know if this is because I'm coming off of reading a lot of action/crime books, I just couldn't understand the need for secrecy. Other than that, I absolutely loved the book. I didn't like the prose at certain parts of the book but it didn't ruin the story in anyway for me. So many social and political issues are discussed in this book, but I would have loved those discussions in the book more if the author had named them explicitly rather than trying to convey something without actually naming it, which just leaves a bad taste for me, although, again it could be a "me" thing and it's not like other readers would feel how I felt when reading those parts of the story.
Even though it's labelled as a mystery with a mention of "murder" in the blurb, I just couldn't care much about it, reading this book, I felt like it was inconsequential, because so much had happened to Eleanor in the last five decades, that I just felt like she and everyone else are making a big deal out of it ? Even though I had that feeling, I still enjoyed this book and it made me smile and cry in various moments. Hoping to catch the TV show that was adapted from this book next
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Grief, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Murder, Homophobia, and Misogyny