Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

48 reviews

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

I have never read a book like this. I have been wanting to get into more eerie books and this totally scratched that itch for me. If you are a fan of spooky but not horror this is definitely for you. There is a lot of gore and body horror stuff that left me thoroughly unsettled. It reminded me of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. The whole story was dark and brooding with little flecks of hope and the writing made the characters and setting come to life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

mixtercharlie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

This is a wonderful book that I would encourage everyone to read in small parts. It deserves to be enjoyed slowly. There is violence but the violence is paramount to the story, even when it’s visceral and upsetting. A book I could read again and again and always take away something new. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

razzberry_pi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

started out a bit slower abd a tad confusing, but definitely picked up in enjoyment after

Vern meets Bridget and Gogo and they start figuring stuff out

usually i can guess where book twists are going to be, but this one suprised me while still making sense.

definitely head the content warnings on this one as a lot of the topics are quite heavy, but the topics were handled with care in a purposeful way, not just trauma porn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, and Colonisation

lpdx's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Medical content

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was a very raw, very honest book that absolutley did not shy away from tough topics. I loved the characters. The first 3/4 were amazing, but unfortunately the last quarter of the book went in a direction that was much less of my thing and I enjoyed it a lot less. Overall though, very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery, and Excrement

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.5

I'm not really sure what to rate this or how to even start this review so I'm just going to ramble a bit I guess. 

This story is about the medical horrors that Black folks have gone through at the hands of the United States government.

The pace was very slow compared to what I normally read so even though I was entertained I still felt the slowness of the book in the middle of it. I listened to the audiobook and I read along with a physical copy of the book so I could stay immersed there were times where we followed the main character but she wasn't really doing much of anything and the slowness of it all and the feeling that I was reading on and on and nothing was happening was driving me mad. 

I think the horror elements of this book were mainly based on body horror and psychological horror, and generational trauma and those worked well within the book. This was a beautifully told story, I love the way the author writes. This story was also really unique so I want to give the author props for that. 

Overall I enjoyed this read, though because of the slowness, I don't see myself reading this again.

I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, and Death of parent

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading the book. Usually I know at least a little bit of the plot or have some vague idea what it might be about. But this time I knew nothing. And I have to say, it's not a book I would usually pick up, but I flew through it, and I'm glad I read it. 

It's a story about Vern, who is raised in an isolated cult community. After she is forced to marry the reverend and gets pregnant, she flees the compound and tries to survive on her own.

It's a very raw and gritty story, with fantastical and horror elements. I really liked the writing, even though the graphic violence, gore, body horror and visceral descriptions were not my favorite thing. Although, they created a great atmosphere that fit the story. 

I was surprised how mysterious and introspective the story was while still being a page turner full of action. Important themes like racism, misogyny, religion, identity, belonging, motherhood and queerness were very prevalent in the book. I especially enjoyed the found family trope and the survival aspect of the story (please be aware that animals are harmed and eaten, though) as well as the diversity. There are queer, intersex and disabled characters and the protagonist is all of it combined. Vern is a very flawed but also resilient character, I loved her and was rooting for her. The character development is amazing, as well as the relationships and their development. And I absolutely adored Howling and Feral! 

I had some issues with parts of the plot and the pacing, but in the end everything fit so well together, and I was not expecting to like the ending as much as I did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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

4.75

GOD i did NOT heed the trigger warnings and I honestly don't even have an excuse like I knew this was a horror novel and still picked it up. don't make my mistake and please be safe. Anyway this BOOK!!!! /pos
absolute fucking masterpiece

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Rape, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, Racial slurs, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

graphic: cult

happyhaley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Torture, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug abuse