Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

86 reviews

jdamae11's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

Wow I loved all of these stories! I’ll be reading anything Deesha Philyaw puts out after finishing this collection. She covers the complexities of mother-daughter bonds, sexism, religion, spirituality, sexuality, and Black life and Black womanhood with so much care, authenticity, and nuance. There were a few times I would go back to reread lines or just pause on a page to appreciate what was conveyed. Adding this to my favorites shelf for sure. The collection opens with an absolute banger with “Eula” and although I really enjoyed all the stories, “How to Make Love to a Physicist” had me screaming crying throwing up it was so amazing. Gunna have to go back and reread that one a few more times. So thankful to the author for putting out this lovely collection!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

kendal_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Dementia

Minor: Abortion

rainbowarpaint's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

frankieclc's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

felishacb's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Dementia, Abortion, and Alcohol

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

i didn’t think i could ever give a story collection 5 stars. this collection had absolutely no misses, a few were better than others, but none were even close to bad. i loved loved this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

katndrsn's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Gun violence

kvokolek's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Homophobia and Dementia

gabichatslit's review against another edition

5.0

A really amazing collection of short stories that find black women of various ages grappling with the desires of their heart and the ways they come up against their faith practice/beliefs, and the teachings of the church. I was blown away by the poetics of Philyaw’s prose. How melodic some of these stories read. Also the way I was mindblown by the connection between ‘Peach Cobbler’ and ‘Instructions for Married Christian Husbands.’ The characters in these tales felt so real. My favorites include the two aforementioned stories, as well as Not-Daniel, Dear Sister, and How to Make Love to a Physicist. I’m really excited to read what Philyaw releases next, she is a wordsmith. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m not usually a big fan of short story collections, but this was incredibly well done. This includes nine short stories that all focus on black women and the effects of the black church. These stories range from understanding sexuality, self discovery and loss of community, and of course the varying hypocrisies of church folk. Both charming and reflective, it was overall a joy to read especially in audiobook format.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content