Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

166 reviews

calsters88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

lachellerising's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence

mollyb13's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? No

5.0

Picked this book up a couple years ago and had a hard time getting into it. Decided to give it another go since a film adaptation is coming out and it is The Stacks Book Club pick this month. And boy, am I glad that I was pushed to try reading this again. This book is worth every bit of the Pulitzer Prize that it won. 

Absolutely haunting and maddening. Colson Whitehead really packs a punch in well under 300 pages. I will be processing this story and the ending for quite a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

nadia's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

This, my first Whitehead, is a really good book, covering harrowing subject matter. I'm not sure the narration style was my favourite though. While it started strong, I ended up finding it a little dull at times, and I often had to reread sentences/paragraphs, thinking I'd missed something. Overall, the writing quality was great and towards the end of the book the pace picked up and I was swiftly turning those pages!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

jaaay_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a good book. It has many topics that can be hard for some to read so definitely look up content warnings. 

I think Elwood is a character that in this story is actually served by not really having a character arc. It was his sturdiness in all that was happening that was really admirable. 

Maybe it was because I was listening to an audiobook, but my only real critique was that there were times when we changed scenes, and it was a different character or plotline being talked about, and it took me a moment to understand what was happening. Nothing terrible, but I wish there had been some smoother transitions between the changes in perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual violence

pagesbylara's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

kseibold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

hayleyvem's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

ashsparrow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

drymice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Rape, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia