Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

24 reviews

tmchopra's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Cultural appropriation, and Deportation

lampbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Really well done thriller, no overly unreal aspects so it’s really easy to stay hooked. The twists are semi predictable but that doesn’t cheapen the read , it’s still very entertaining. Reading it as a white person might make you question just how realistic some of the depictions are but just lean into it, she’s right. The two leads Sydney and Theo are a good pair but for a lot of the book I found Theo very unlikeable , though as it continued I feel that that was intentional. A lot of the situations of conflict within the book make your stomach turn with frustration and helplessness which is the whole point but get ready to be very angry at a plot point  with absolutely no recourse. The build up is fantastic, the final reveal is fantastic, the way that that is dealt with is sort of lack luster bit it’s still worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Although it’s meant to be a huge if not the biggest twist in the book

Sydneys mom being dead the whole time

is fairly obvious from the first we hear of the situation. The reveal about 75% of the way through feels a little silly because of it, like, duh… Also I felt a little annoyed at how

blatant Kim’s racism and generally evil personality was

, it felt so intense that it was no longer believable. Also the

sex scene between theo and sydney

was pretty unnecessary, is that just me ? Is anyone else getting tired of every book having a weirdly graphic scene for no real reason?

readingismyluvlanguage's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad fast-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: Emotional abuse, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

faduma's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

barefootbetsy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad 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? Yes

4.5

I really liked this. Yes, the pacing could’ve been more even, but the concept was solid and I enjoyed the story!  I, like many other reviewers, could’ve done without the romance subplot; but those issues aside, I thought the story was well done and it certainly drew me in quickly and thoroughly.

The history was fascinating and I have a new appreciation for how difficult (and horrifying) living with the remnants (and current iterations) of slavery and redlining and stolen land must be 😞

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Excrement

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Deportation

kumquats87's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Vomit, and Police brutality

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

jojo_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

stephaniezd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

Gentrification meets The Purge!! This book had me on the edge of my seat the WHOLE time. I could not wait to see what would happen next, and let me tell you - I was not ready. Incredible story, incredible narrators, incredibly written. Thought-provoking. Just amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism