Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Native Son by Richard Wright

45 reviews

hleary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol and Classism

michaelion's review

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Dear StoryGraph, I implore you, please add a trigger tag specifically for misogynoir, because it's disgusting how much of it is in this book.

The choice to open the book with Bigger killing a rat, then terrorizing his sister to the point where she faints and he laughs about it is mild foreshadowing of what's to come. Also, unrelated to the opening scene, there's something poetic about everything black men fear about being caught doing with a white woman, they do to Black women. Justice4Bessie!

If you're planning on reading this, brace yourself. In my edition, there was an excerpt where Wright tells the readers of a book club that the first draft of this book was 576 pages. Which actually makes me like this book less, because it could've easily been 200 pages shorter and been a tighter, sharper, better story. It was a drag to get through reading. In the third section of the book alone, one character monologues for 23 pages with no breaks. After a certain point you simply have to start skimming. But, I promise, you're not missing much.

I gave this rating an extra .25 for Jan and Max. It sucks that the characters I like most were the not-like-the-others whites!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

rhartman's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Murder

kendallrosenlof's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Misogyny

allym's review

challenging dark medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Violence, and Murder

hoppingpages's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

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

3.5

The protagonist set my head on fire.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

moonandmadness's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

If Wright had decided to write a thriller, I'm sure I would've collapsed while reading it. The writing is plain but with a rushing quality that sweeps you up, making it easy to read despite the subject matter. The empathy that this novel manages to curate even with how unlikeable the main character can be is impressive - and is clearly communicated. There are some shades of subtlety, however I'd generally class it as an unpolished novel, doing a good job of putting across its viewpoint, but without fully refining itself as a piece of art. Overall, a good novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

ellenmurr16's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

kliu55's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Native Son is a classic book I can always return to and rediscover some new aspect I hadn't noticed before. The nuances of this book are what make it so brilliant-- Bigger's name, Mrs. Dalton's blindness, Mr. Dalton's job, the representation of communism, Mrs. Thomas' namelessness, the list goes on. With such a complicated relationship to Bigger, readers are can never be comfortable fully supporting or hating him. The ending speech where Wright arguably inserts himself makes matters all the more complicated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder