Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

19 reviews

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

weirdow's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Felt like maybe the author was trying to get somewhere with the racism, but it was underdeveloped and just wound up more of a crappy plot device. I think there was a lot of potential here (it is his first book I think) but the book lacked depth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual violence

againanew's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Excellently written and extremely creative. Also very dark and doesn't hold back.  I read horror like it's going out of style but I'm rarely satisfied. This is absolutely in my top three, ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Animal death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Murder and War

charmarie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyed the atmosphere and overall vibes of the story - didn't enjoy the portrayal of women or people of color. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death

hhollins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

This one was difficult to read, for more reasons than it was good to read.

• Although it is reasonable to expect for the time period and location, I still couldn't stomach the overt racism.
• The pacing was really slow. 
• The storyline of "investigating the plantation and writing a book about it" really dropped off, and it would have been more compelling/to build more tension if it were addressed more throughout the book than at the end.
• The main character and his wife were too horny, for how slowly paced the book was, and I really felt like it was adding to scenes dragging out.
• I think I could have lived without all of the war montages. His history of war added some complexity to his character, but I don't think it did much.

Pros:

• The setting is established well and it is an interesting place to imagine.
• Historical accuracy, I think?
• The scarier parts had good description and tension.
• The overall concept was interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

rainstar's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

jess2obsess's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Book started off slowly but picked up very fast at the end. Not a very good story or good storytelling until the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

akmay17's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Overall, I thought this was good book with good enough writing and an interesting premise/plot. 

However, it takes place in the 30s, and the characters certainly speak like it — and by that I mean, they’re racist. Even if that character is not, like, extremely racist, they use the n-word, and there’s at least one anti-Semitic comment as well. These parts were hard to read and, to me, often felt unnecessary even it was “true” to the historic time period. I wanted to mention if that’s just not something you want to be reading. 

There’s also a racist trope presumably unintentionally used—

of a black man preying on/raping a white women—read more about the history of this of you don’t understand this has a racist stereotype/trope

as well as a few other uncomfortable depictions and passages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol