Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

106 reviews

ejhaber's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, and Kidnapping

hmih's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

bellsdixon's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Pregnancy and Lesbophobia

nimeneth's review against another edition

It's beautifully written but I just.... Couldn't. It was too sad, too negative, and I really couldn't connect with the characters. Norma felt like a cardboard cutout for the first half, and by the time she actually got interesting I was just over the book. Nobody but Alice has any real redeeming qualities, and Alice barely counts as a character since she's only there for a few pages overall. Joe gets no sympathy points for his illness. Also the whole parental guilt bullshit on top of everything else was too much.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Racism, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

crayolabooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Haunting and beautifully written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Kidnapping

befrazzledenby's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

In a year of mediocre reads, this one really stands out. Though there was no real mystery, I loved seeing the character's lives over time. The writing was strong at the same time as being accessible. The characters were varied and complex. The story held a lot of emotions. It was full of heartbreak as well as hope. I do wish more space had been given to the ending and rebuilding the bonds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

rachellbc's review

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

schausjk's review

reflective sad 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

3.0

Emotional at times with some well-written moments, but also deeply predictable. The book sacrifices much of its tension and pacing in an attempt to lean into being more character driven, but even then it sometimes feels more like outlines of lives rather than fully fleshed out characters. This book would have benefitted from being longer and adding more depth to some of its themes.

As a side note, the repeated casual fatphobia was super irritating. Every single time the author brings up a character's weight, it's always to either make fat characters the butt of a joke or with implications that the fat characters are disgusting or have let themselves go (sometimes it's both!).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

mollysmith1313's review against another edition

Reading about the mother who abducted this girl, and the family complicit with it, makes me so sick with anger. Listening to the experiences of grief surrounding deaths and lost pregnancies is really tough to listen to as well. I ended up being to overall upset at the content to continue, but I applaud the author anyway. It truly is a well-written book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting