rlfredericks's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
dianna_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Car accident, Addiction, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Bullying
leweylibrary's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Infidelity, Car accident, and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
zarrazine's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Death and Racism
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
clarabooksit's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Grief, Car accident, Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Racism, and Suicide
Moderate: Infidelity, Violence, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Addiction, and Incest
Minor: Animal death
meganbyrd77's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug use
mnatale100's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Classism, Death, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Addiction, Infidelity, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, and Mental illness
Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, and Bullying
laurendenton's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
bookdragon217's review against another edition
5.0
Men We Reaped rocked me to the core. Jesmyn Ward poured her entire heart onto these pages. I related to this book on a personal level and it validated fears I thought I had buried deep inside. Ward's writing cuts like a knife but allows for cathartic relief.
I've never thought about grief the way Ward describes it: " WE INHERIT THESE things that breed despair and self-hatred, and tragedy multiplies." It is sinister and waiting to finally catch up to us. "DEATH SPREADS, EATING away at the root or our community like a fungus". Because of the generational traumas and circumstances that are passed down in marginalized communities death is always lurking and waiting to destroy what we love the most.
Ward ultimately explores:
🖤 how we define and create community and family
🖤 how grief is carried across generations
🖤 why we are always to drawn to home despite tragedy
🖤 how communities heal and practice resiliency
🖤 the daily anxieties and fears of marginalized communities
🖤 how communities cope with grief
🖤 the effects of unresolved mental health issues in families of color
🖤 gender differences in communities
🖤 what it means to be BIPOC and poor in the South
🖤 the strength of Black women
🖤 what survival looks like as a Black person
What sticks with me the most is the idea that grief is the validation that someone's life mattered. Grief is what is left behind to remind us of how much our loved ones meant to us even if the world says otherwise. Grief never fully goes away because it is what keeps us connected to those that left us too soon. This book was powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time.
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts