Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

29 reviews

edwardsmc32's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-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

3.75

While it took me awhile to get into the book and begin to understand the characters and story as it was being laid out, it picked up tremendously and pulled me in and then broke my heart. The author has a way of letting you into each character’s heart and mind while still keeping the main characters the main characters. While difficult to read at times, it is a beautifully tragic story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

kiwialexa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

I just hope this book makes enough white readers feel enough anger and shame to contact our electeds about reparations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Religious trauma, Environmental degradation

noahsingh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

Mixed feelings about this one! Some aspects of the book weren't developed enough (imho) and I felt a bit let down by the ending but there were lots of aspects I did enjoy., including the writing itself and the main characters of Samuel and Kayode.
Pros: 
-Everyone has already said this but yeah obviously the writing is really good. 
- Enjoyed that we get a perspective chapter from almost every enslaved character. Especially enjoyed Maggie and Sarah's perspectives. 
-Samuel and Kayodes relationship is beautifully written. Its the first book I've read set during the transatlantic slave trade with focuses on queer black characters, and it was really interesting to read a perspective on that.
-I loved loved loved the King Asuka chapters, my only complaint there is that I wish there had been a lot more of that narrative in general. Same for Sarah's narrative. The exploration of black queerness and transness as not yet warped by slavery and colonialism is definitely one of the strongest aspects of this book to me. 
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And of course, white people being killed by the people they enslaved is always V satisfying, Samuel killing Timothy was great 10/10

Cons:
-Not enough time spent with each characters, and I didn't see the need for Paul's chapters being so long. 
-I personally don't enjoy too much description/poetic language which gets in the way of the actual narrative, which I think this book suffered from a bit. Its all very well-written but I think some of it could have definitely been cut down. But this is a personal bias of mine obvy. 
-Some elements of the book were underdeveloped, for example the Beulah/Be Auntie connection, the Seven/Vs the Seven aunts, etc 
-So so so much (trigger warning) rape. I understand it's historically accurate to the enslavement of black individuals in America but the explicitness and repeated graphic descriptions seemed unnecessary and kinda excessive for me. For example,

having both Ruth and Timothy assault Samuel seemed like way too much. Ruths assault of Samuel didn't add anything to the story and could have easily either been removed or referred to rather than graphically described.

 

-A lot of the characters don't get a conclusive ending, of course that's hard to do when most of the characters are enslaved individuals and escape from slavery was practically impossible.

  However we never have any idea what happens to Adam, we leave Beulah/Be Aunties story the moment Beulah actually takes control (which felt like a cop-out to me), and I didnt see the need for Samuel to lead Kayode away from the plantation as a ghost, just for Kayode to die almost immediately anyway. And of course what happens to Essie, Puah, Maggie etc is all left up in the air.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

redrosieroses's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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

Beautiful and important book. Honestly the best book I have ever read. I encourage everyone to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

bruhbruh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

greenrequiem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

peachmoni's review

challenging mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Infertility, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

botanbibliophile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a very hard read. I think a lot of it went over my head honestly. The time of enslaved people with absolutely no holding back and no filters. I was constantly in tears or sick to my stomach. Which is definitely the seeming point. Isaiah and Samuel find love only again to be ripped apart. There was never going to be a happy ending during this time. It’s just all pain. Which makes it a hard, but necessary read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism