Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

3 reviews

lisettemarie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I valued this story a lot. The books about slavery I read are usually focused on the US, so it was good to expand my horizons here and read about the Caribbean. The writing was truly beautiful, quiet and painful. It reminded me of "Homegoing" (Gyasi) and "Roots" (Haley), though I will say I enjoyed both of those books more. I loved Rachel's determination, her journey, and her reflections on suffering one chooses and how it emboldens you, versus the suffering one is subjected to and how it wears you down. I also really valued the examination of what "freedom" really means, in both a legal sense and a larger, more ideological sense. I think we're still examining this question every day. 

It feels very wrong to call a book this full of trauma and suffering "serendipitous," but to me it was at least a bit too serendipitous in that Rachel was able to either find out find out what happened to all of her children, despite hopping between islands of thousands of people. It relied a little too much on convenience and while I don't think it was necessarily a happy story or a happy ending, it was a farfetched to me that she was able to have so much closure - even if it was also a peaceful thing to read.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism