Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

89 reviews

ali1311's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I  loved the descriptions in this book of the setting and everything else, really. It painted such a visceral picture the whole time. The actual plot and content of the story was interesting enough to keep me reading and wondering where things were going, but I think it was a little watered down almost. Where the descriptions and character studies were so detailed and compelling, the story itself felt a bit bland in comparison. Mostly, I wanted more from the magical realism. But overall, I really felt a connection to the characters and wouldn't have minded even more time in their heads. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Police brutality, and Death of parent

ejanephillips's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing

ac_52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I don't usually read coming-of-age novels, and considering how bad I believed this one was I don't think I'll consider picking one up for a while.

The switch to part ghost story halfway through the book was really not needed at all in my opinon; I believe the author should have stuck with the ghost story thing all the way through because it was somewhat important to the plot at the end.

I do believe that some of the topics discussed in this book were things that needed to be talked about to reflect on the character's life experiences (that shaped them to be the people they were during the story). Please read warning tags if you're going to read this book, because most trigger warnings listed are extremely graphic and descriptive. This last sentence ties into the fact that I actually felt sick reading the first chapter of the book because of the descriptions (which I won't spoil, nor could I stomach to do that. Read the tags). Overall, it wasn't terrible enough for me to give it a 1. I feel like the author really wanted you to hate everybody except the main character and the younger sister by the end of the book because they were all bad and doing bad things. I really still don't understand what I was supposed to get out of this book. I was hoping to come out of it with some new outlook on life or something like that, no matter how small it was. All I came out of this reading experience with was a hatred for coming-of-age novels. 

TLDR; The book wasn't the worst thing I've read, but it's really close to the worst. The story was lacking and the themes throughout it were difficult for me to understand. If you're looking for a good coming-of-age novel, this should not be anywhere near the top of your choices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy

emk5's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Murder

januaryghosts's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

ari5scythe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

shanban0303's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Had to read this book for a college class, and thus wasn't expecting much. But my god, what a beautiful, heartbreaking book. Found myself gasping and laughing and sighing out of sadness for these characters, many times throughout the book. Beautiful imagery throughout, will be looking for more books by this author.  Profs teaching English classes: assign this book, your students will be better for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence

lottiegasp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a tragic book about the pervading anti-Blackness in the US from Jim Crow era until the modern day, and how this collective trauma is passed down intergenerationally

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abandonment

This is a very sad book and covers a lot of dark topics relating to Jim Crow era anti-Blackness and abusive, neglectful parents. Read when you can handle it

sydneythekydneybean's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to like this book. It's one of my friend's favorite books, it's our next book club book, and I hate being that person who goes to a book club with negative or neutral things to say about something many people love.

I don't know what it was about Sing, Unburied, Sing that I didn't like. Out of all of the characters, Richie's story was the most intriguing and interesting, and the relationship between Jojo and Pop was mesmerizing and, honestly, something I wish we focused more on instead of Jojo and Kayla's relationship with their mother and father (which... I have many, many words to say about them and their particular parenting style, but I will plead the fifth here). Jesmyn Ward is undeniably a very good writer, but sometimes I felt like her lyrical prose outweighed the voice of the character we were in the head of. In the end, it might have been that which led me not to feel as connected to the characters as I wanted to. Some worked (see Richie), but many didn't (see Leonie).

It's a beautifully written and important book about poverty, family, racism, the ghosts of our pasts, and the hopes for our futures, but ultimately, it just wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Rape

kruthdetroit's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Racial slurs