spookily's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pregnancy
prettycloud'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
4.75
Graphic: Drug use, Medical content, Police brutality, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, and Sexual content
Minor: Colonisation, War, and Racism
This book addresses the horrors of colonialism and historic wrongs, but it doesn't twist the knife or delight in violence. The characters in the present experience common experiences during the first year of COVID, from generalized pandemic anxiety toSpoiler
police violence and hospitalization from the virusbiblioghoul's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Police brutality, Medical content, Confinement, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Stalking, Racism, Pregnancy, and Death
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Grief, Animal death, and Death of parent
edie_reads's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, and Police brutality
Minor: Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Animal death, and Pregnancy
teresareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, and Pregnancy
Minor: Genocide
futurama's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Spoiler
second half, which takes place in 2020, overwhelms the story. It makes me wonder if Erdich was writing this novel and decided to add the pandemic/BLM protests last minute. The addition of the actions in May 2020 do make sense, the novel takes place at the epicenter of the protests. But I do think the story can function the same without the modern timeline.I love the tongue-in-cheek humor sprinkled throughout the book. Erdich fictionalizes her bookstore and a fictional version of herself pops in from time to time. Erdich's details and Tookie's observations leaned wry. Tookie's book recommendations were spot on and surprisingly present day, including 2020 (and 2021?) releases. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami was on there! Lily King's Euphoria is mentioned twice!
The Sentence is not a funny story but it is a human story. The book leaks all these human emotions: happiness, fulfillment, sadness, frustration, confusion. The Sentence has all the characteristics of a novel I would avoid: ensemble cast, too-current events, multiple plot lines, but it did blow me away. It's dense but not intense. Overall, I enjoyed spending time with Tookie.
Major, major CW for Covid-19. I wish that was a content warning tag.
Graphic: Police brutality
Moderate: Pregnancy