Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

5 reviews

shoshin's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This was my first Erdrich book, and I regret that it took me so long to get to her despite all of the good things I have heard. 

I picked the book as part of a reading challenge, to read a book set on my favorite city. I didn't realize that it was partially set during COVID and the uprising. Hearing about the loss of life and the loss of places I love is still a punch in the gut. I should have realized but somehow still wasn't ready when it came. 

I listened to the audiobook, and I could listen to Erdrich all day. Amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, and Abandonment

stephe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

The Sentence is beautifully, lovingly written, capturing the power that books and stories and memories have to reveal deep and painful truths—about ourselves, those around us, and our worlds. It also faithfully captures a moment in Minneapolis (and the world) in which deep pain and patterns of systemic abuse came bubbling up and out into the streets, all in the midst of the darkest times of the Quarantine Era. Having lived in Minneapolis during most of these events, it was hard to read at times. And yet, Tookie and the whole cast of characters brought so much life and depth and joy to the story that I finished it with hope that, together, we can reckon with that which haunts us and welcome healing into our lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual violence

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Trafficking

rhall19's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Sexual violence

prettycloud's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.75

This book feels like the pandemic: just when you think you've found the rhythms of normal life, you feel the uncertainty as threads come loose bit by bit until the whole thing unravels. It's a powerful look at the way that unraveling gave people in the US a new understanding of our own complacency, caused people to question the facts of life we'd come to accept. The energy that flowed into anti-racism work in that summer of 2020 feels vibrant and real in this book without being too trite. And it does not shy away from the nuances of systemic and interpersonal racism!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism, Colonisation, and War

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 to

police violence and hospitalization from the virus

. The main character had previously endured police and other violence during her incarceration, which she describes in the beginning of the book and which forms part of a later conflict. No one in the present tense of the book abuses drugs or alcohol, but the main character's mom was an addict and neglected her, and she does describe this.