Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

12 reviews

adelita18's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a challenging audiobook to follow. There are no traditional chapter divisions and the author/narrator, Ms. Morrison, read the story in a very quiet, monotone affect. It made it extremely difficult to place which character's perspective you were listening to at a given point in time and required a lot of skipping back to try to parse out the change in point of view. 

That being said, Ms. Morrison really dove head first into examining the roles/relationships religion, concepts and implementation of different types of slavery (bondage vs. indenture), cultural and racial biases, and various social mores in the early melting pot of 1680s colonial America affected people of all walks and ways of life. I'd like to go back and re-read this as a physical or Kindle edition because I felt like a lot of the plot was lost in trying to follow the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Rape, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Slavery

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

Narrative hard to follow at times as the chapters switch and it’s not always clear who’s speaking. The chapters could also be quite long which made it hard to pick up or have my attention held-especially when it was dragging in the beginning.

I had a really hard time focusing and wanting to continue reading, unlike other Morrison novels. Finally by the second half I started to enjoy it more and figure out whose voice was whose!

I was intrigued by the setting, time period, and characters. It was interesting getting the different perspectives from 4 very different women! 

I felt so sure because of the rough start, that this would only be 3/3.5 stars and my least fave Morrison but the last chapter threw me for a loop and I ended up feeling it was worth 4 stars for that chapter alone 😨

Morrison always has a way with words and even in these slim novels, she packs some powerful emotions and complicated characters with their own unique voices! I can’t wait to continue reading the rest of Morrison’s works and I’ll be a little sad when I finish 💚

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

itiafurniture's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

4.5

Only Toni Morrison can present dark themes with such grace, and present whole characters that don’t abide stereotypes that often consume certain genres. The direction of the story was unexpected, and she weaves the relationships of characters so effortlessly into the story. I would have loved to know more about Lina, and Rebekka’s story felt heavy handed in comparison to the others, but the final chapter made up for that 10 fold. Definitely a great reread. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

michaelion's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I read this on and off over 22 days because I went on vacation but it's Toni Morrison so of course it was amazing and I didn't lose the momentum in the gaps of days between reading chapters. Many thoughts many ideas... In my notes I marked this book is a lot more grounded in reality than magical realism. What's the difference? That's a great question... And at the end the world keeps going on. Ms Morrison, I know I said it before but you've done it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

aparizo704's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Trafficking

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

daisydoolie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A beautiful book, my first time reading Morrison and  her writing style is so unique. Hard to read in parts with the content but so evocative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

theromanticace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual assault and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Torture

katherine_kelley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

ella_hat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

Moderate: Child death, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Body horror

inthereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

I really liked the idea of this book, in a way I think I am not smart enough to read it. The language is extremely poetic, and can be kind of confusing at times, I definitely had to reread over some parts, and I will probably reread this whole book again at some point. Also, I think it would be helpful to not stop and start when reading this book and probably only read this book and pause reading others while you are reading this, that way it can be a little easier to understand. all in all, i  think that this book is very moving and the language is gorgeous so I definitely think that makes the read worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault