Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

8 reviews

wytherwytch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.0

This book...!

So I have really wrestled with reading the Strike series after everyone saying at how transphobic JK is. I have tried to educate myself on this matter to understand it. While I do understand some concerns - mainly surrounding the women's shelter that JK funds - I also think that the argument as it were is more nuanced than the majority give credit. I wish it something more open to discussion - the downside of cancel culture is that it takes away the ability to discuss, to understand, to find middle ground. But none of this is about the book so I digress - apologies

I recovered my guilt from reading this while crying about the storyline involving Strike's Aunt Joan. It was powerful and relatable. 

My main criticism of this series is that the books are so long but a lot happened in this one and I have idea where I would have cut any of it. It was a joy to read. It made me laugh, and cry. Brilliant stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Cancer

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

camilla_perotti's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Classism, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

alexandra_a_a's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Child abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Ableism, Misogyny, and Abortion

jessiejessj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The fifth book in the series, Troubled Blood takes readers on a convoluted path that has every suspect looking like a murderer at one point, and simultaneously, the main character looking like a possible runaway instead of a possible victim. The character progression between Cormoran and Robin is intriguing also, as this is the first book in the series where I found their friendship/relationship frustrating to experience as Cormoran’s personal situation has him lashing out, making me quite frustrated in his behaviour. While I did consider deducting stars due to the fact there’s a significant focus on rape in this book which made me uncomfortable, in the end the writing was so excellent and the reveal so shocking, I had to give it 5 stars in the end regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Mental illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Update: Reread this two years after the first time; still agree with my original review. 
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I couldn’t figure out why it was taking me so long to make any progress in the electronic version and then I realized the paper version is 900+ pages long. I loved every page. I think Rowling is a great writer, creating an intriguing plot and complex characters, doing a surprising amount of research on detailed locations and with complicated astrology / Zodiac info. Her pacing is great - she always adds a bit of humor when the tension is getting to be close to unbearable. 

I fear I’m not articulating just how much I loved this book. I have been a big fan of the Cormoran Strike series since I read the first one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcohol, Cancer, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Confinement, Murder, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Misogyny, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, and Torture

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Complicated feelings over this one

Pros:
- Rowling is an exceptional writer; the complicated but satisfying plot, the mixture of straightforward tone interspersed with moments of lyrical descriptions and reflection, the characterisation and development, the slowly eked out relationship development, the depth of every single side character, how each character's dialogue is made distinct and accents rendered realistically, the research that's clearly gone into it... just so much to admire in the actual writing and her skill.
- I like Robin and Strike and many of the other side characters. They feel real and Rowling puts across their emotions very well. There's a very real feeling of being as harried and pressured as Strike clearly is with everything piling up and then the release at the end.
- the plot was complex but wrapped up very neatly at the end. It was complicated by various characters' mixed motives but it didn't feel forced.

Cons:
- My only complaint about the writing was that it was *massively* confusing at the beginning. SO. MANY. NAMES. Got super confused. Also later on completely forgot who

Joanna Hammond

, which might be due to it being 3am right now, but still. Took the punch out of the revelation at the end because I couldn't remember who the hell they were talking about.
- Rowling's views... Rowling as a person... that was just in my head the whole time I was reading.
- her views then come through in this book, more than the others I think. This is the first book to come out post Rowling revealing herself as a massive transphobe and I think there's a lot of elements of that that come through in this.
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There's the killer, Creed, dressing up in women's clothes to lull his victims into a sense of security, which is the most transphobic bit. Then there's a good bit of fatphobia in there with obvious scorn and disgust angled towards fat people, including Creed being obese. A point I hated a lot was when it's made fun of that Irene has IBS. The condition is given to an already dislikeable character and it's encouraging the reader to laugh at her during that whole episode, which I thought was really cruel. No-one, however dislikeable, should be subject to mockery because of a chronic and painful medical condition. There were other bits too and I can't speak for disabled people but I wasn't sure how some of the portrayals of disabled people would come off to them. Then there's points where I felt that Rowling was hammering home other points, about women's safety, about Robin's rape, about domestic abuse, manipulative men, feminism, and about people who arguing for changing language rather than actually making a difference (the students Strike has a rant at in Max's flat over a so called 'slutwalk'). None of that was wrong, but I felt it linked back to Rowling's perception of herself within the world.

Anyway, the book was written excellently, but Rowling is a piece of shit. Unfortunately, I am also very jealous of her writing abilities and wish they'd been given to someone more worthy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

kdmusings'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

4.0

As with the other books in the Strike series, I was addicted from the first page. I’m not super keen on slowed paced books, but Rowling is an incredible writer. 

This book was very personal to me. However, upon reflection it is important to remember Rowling’s homophobic views and how this has been directly relayed through in her writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

cmreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Sexism

Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

Minor: Racism