Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

90 reviews

seasonedreadings's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

ashsparrow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

drymice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Rape, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

jessicasonley's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

3liza's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

carojust's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This is difficult story, especially knowing it's based on the real-life Dozier School for Boys and its hidden past. The backdrop is a racist, segregated South, as Black men, women and children endured unjust, fatal circumstances, while the civil rights movement began to find footing. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words are weaved throughout this book, as a guiding moral compass for Elwood, the young protagonist, who reminds himself that only love can root out hate.

Colson Whitehead writes beautiful characters, ones that you love and mourn as if you've known them. While their time in an abusive, corrupt, and terrifying reform school is somber reading, Whitehead offers moments of hope through Elwood's friendships, and a peak into his future. There are repetitive themes, but I believe purposefully so, to reiterate the lasting trauma of a "prison within a prison" created by generations of racial violence, discrimination and hatred. Assaults and murders that escape justice for lifetimes. Poignantly, the characters talk about the free world and their world at Nickel, how there was no fence that kept them imprisoned. 

I grew up in Tallahassee, and it was my first time reading a book set in my hometown and the Florida panhandle.

Give this a read if you're interested in Black history, plot twists, and characters you can root for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

marisample's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

mle11's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Dementia

shannyoung55's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

carlycompton22's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Poignant look at the perpetration of racism in America through the lens of a boys reform school in Florida during the Jim Crow era. The striking account of the horrors suffered at the school against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and precisely placed MLK quotes create a vivid picture of how ideals crash into reality like oil and vinegar. Slightly lower rating because I listened on audiobook and couldn't get used to the narrator's speaking style or keep track of all the characters well so I think I lost some of the impact of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape