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uselesspirateraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Police brutality
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Stalking, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, and Death of parent
pianokeys's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
dionysius_miller's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Police brutality and Classism
ponk_33's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
sassmistress's review against another edition
5.0
Favorite fictional father so far! Just wow. And the slow unfolding of events as understood by a child overhearing things and not fully grasping the implications of situations is just perfection.
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Suicide, and War
This book is for adults. It centers around a rape trial in which a black man is (falsely) accused of assaulting a white woman in a heavily segregated Alabama town.It's deeply immersive, in a culture where racism is woven into the culture and impossible to avoid. The KKK and the "War Between the States" are part of recent cultural memory. Black defendants are always convicted no matter what. Lynching and mob violence are a very near threat.
Expectedly, the n-word abounds, among other racial slurs. Other language is not infrequent, including he**, g-d-, b****, wh*re, d**n, sl*t, etc. Lord's name in vain quite a few times.
Lots of death--not gory, but as close as it gets without actually witnessing it. Old age, and talk of the body being carried out of the home. Death penalty discussed often. A man dies:
Domestic violence:
Morphine addiction is discussed and withdrawals are shown.
Both respectable and "unrespectable" poverty are shown.
Schoolyard bullying and fights, neighborhood verbal abuse and gossip about many culturally relevant "deficiencies" like unladylikeness, mental illness, intellectual disability, not being sufficiently racist, etc.
Lots of portrayals of Christianity. Some are good, including the nearest relationships to the MC, but many are not. A neighbor reports that a different sort of baptist told her she was going to hell, MC loses "confidence in pulpit gospel" when thinking on what a good person the neighbor is. "Foot-washers think women are a sin by definition. They take the Bible literally, you know." The ladies' missionary society talks about global cultures with pity and exaggeration, often conflating spiritual issues with cultural differences. A white employer tells her black housekeeper she's not being a good Christian when she is visibly affected by a serious injustice in the local community and nearly fired her for it. Etc, many more.
Other spiritual content: Kids spook each other with talk of spirits on dirt roads. "Dill was a villain's villain: he could get into any character part assigned him, and appear tall if height was part of the devilry required. "
Besides the rape trial and moderately explicit testimony, which includes brief mention of domestic SA, there's other, more minor sexual content. Incest in local families is mentioned very specifically a few times. There's a quick joke about infidelity. Kids lie and say they were playing strip poker, which gets them into trouble (less because they played with matches instead of cards). There's a "swift" kid kiss, and a boy climbs into bed with a girl he keeps promising to marry some day, but it's platonic.
"I'll tan you" and many other such comments, severe corporal punishment for children being an expected part of the culture. Kids laugh when the teacher gives "quick little pats" on the hand when they realize it was meant to be a "whipping".
nayeliv's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
plsnotanotherdamselindistress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
It really took some time getting into the story as the first person narrator is not all knowing but the story gets told from the subjective perspective of a little girl.
But the choice of the narrator was also great because you do not just take on the opinion of the person that narrates the story and it realistically portrays how little children deal with such societal issues as in racism or sexism plus as this book covers years the development of Scout's character is really interesting.
I especially liked the variety of opinions and characters introduced as it represents society (then and now).
So even though this book was written years ago and about the early 2000s these themes are still current and thus the teachings are quite important and helpful.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Police brutality
nindie's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.25
While reading the book, my main thought was constantly wishing to finish the book. Not only was it because I had a deadline coming up, but also it was because I found the book to be predominantly dull. There were many descriptions, characters, scenarios and even chapters that I felt were pointless in including or making a lengthy part of the book when it was unnecessary. A lot of these things included barely contributed to the plot, characters and overall themes. Because of this, the only sections where I had an interest in because they were significant were the
There is another thing in which I found a problem, but this was just my personal preferences. I know that society's attitudes towards some communities were very disrespectful and corrupt at the time of this book. Despite this, I still felt tremendously uncomfortable reading this book because of the language used and the characters, even when aware of this information. It isn't the book's fault, in a way. It's because I don't feel as comfortable reading stuff like this, and I had to read this book for school and wasn't aware of how many things like this are in the book.
A last thing to say is I found too many characters included. Assumingly half mentioned wasn't necessary for anything or were mentioned in only 1-3 unimportant sentences. At one point, there were so many that I couldn't keep track of who was who.
All I was pointing out were negative points, but I like the themes it discusses, and I look forward to analysing the text thoroughly to learn more about those themes for my school work.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
tinkithesquirelll's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
literally_mint's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Classism