Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

31 reviews

emmajh91's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Child death, Grief, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Blood, Bullying, and Violence

mai_day's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Child death, and Hate crime

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Hate crime and Murder

haleyreads32's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Murder, and Death

lil_booklover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-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? No

4.75

It was very eye opening and really challenged my viewpoint by the resolution. I loved seeing how the characters developed. This book also did break my heart but I would read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Racism, Bullying, Death, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Blood

null4444's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Murder

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

i will preface this by saying i didnt realize going into this that this book is geared towards younger readers so im not the target audience. that aside, i do think it was a very good read and i think it would be very effective at giving the right age group a book to read that they could a) identify with the characters strongly as theyre the same age, and b) its easy to read (not subject-wise, but the way its written is easy to follow!) and makes the subject matter more digestible (i dont think thats the proper words but i cant think of a better one) in a way that also doesnt trivialize the events of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Slavery

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

A powerful story about the ways that prejudice and police brutality impact entire communities, especially those killed by police and their families. I thought tying the murdered boy in this story to Emmitt Till was a brilliant way to bridge historical timelines where not much at all has changed. This book is heavy and sad but accessible to younger audiences as well as adults. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Grief, Gun violence, Bullying, Child death, Racism, Violence, and Blood

shinypurplepants's review

challenging

Very very very not for me! I feel like the way this subject matter was handled has a huge possibility to re-traumatize black readers.

What I did like: Rhodes writing style reminds me of Reynolds' "Track" series. It's fast paced and puts you in the head (and emotions!) of our protagonist really well. 

I would recommend this book specifically for use in a book club setting with parents/child or teachers/students that want to discuss this very "ripped form the headlines" type of story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Child death

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Between 4.5/4.75 stars. Heartbreaking, heart wrenching and a deeply moving story of a young black boy who unfortunately like many young black people prior, is shot by a policeman on duty. Jerome is trying to make sense of his ghost form, confused by the presence of other ghost boys too, Emmett Till in particular. My main concern (& my main reason why I gave this 4.5 instead of the full stars) is due to the ending. I wasn’t 100% in agreement with Sarah’s father getting a somewhat redemption arc. That didn’t sit right with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, and Child death

Moderate: Grief