Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

76 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

isleofwoman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Racism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape

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

jadeanne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. The story was captivating and pays tribute to Toni Morrison's Beloved (which I also thought was genius). The characters were complicated and even though Leoni was a frustrating character, she wasn't one-dimensional. There were moments when I felt more than just anger with her character. Quick read as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Racism, and Vomit

abmochapman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

In Sing, Unburied, Sing, Ward’s writing is lyrical, complex, and rooted in the earth. The novel is extremely moving, but in a disturbing and existential way. It exposes the continuity of slavery and racial exploitation through prison, and the ways that these ongoing processes can break families. There’s also some spiritual exploration only heightened the discomfort I felt in reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Death of parent, and Murder

cptnsulu's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Drug use, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

sarahgarlicnan's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

3.0

Tough book because it is so dark and rough and displays so much tragic violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Rape, and Murder

mamatoca's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

Beautiful writing, but just so full of trauma with little hope of redemption. This book gave me nightmares. The magical realism was confusing and inconsistent for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse