Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

107 reviews

erinoconnor's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

A story of generational trauma with love at the center. It’s delicious and painful and almost like peeking into vignetted moments in these characters lives. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

thissagreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective 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

This book was so good!!! I couldn’t put it down- the twists were nice- but I loved reading the mother Eleanor’s past, and loved that she told it through an 8 hour recording.

Eleanor’s real name is Covey but after fleeing the Caribbean island she was from, the book tells us how she became Eleanor, why she had to flee her island, and that they have an older sister (from rape unfortunately.

The perspective and storytelling was RICH and engaging. 

The audio was so wonderful to listen too, and if there’s ever going to be a part two, I will read it in a heartbeat! I do wish that the author

explored Eleanor/Covey’s reservation for her daughter Benny’s bisexuality. Her husband was pissed but I think it was because Benny was career and life lost, and adding queerness was too much for this man LOL but it would’ve been nice to get a better understanding as to why Eleanor/Covey was upset too. 

This is a must read because the multigenerational saga, with

Eleanor/Covey’s Chinese father who spoke patios

was such a great listen and read!!! The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars, was because the ending felt rushed, especially after all the time and care that was put into Eleanor’s story. Plus, I felt like there could’ve been more on Byron and Benny after listening to their mother’s history

and it would’ve been nice to read about their older sister settling and getting to know Byron and Benny more.

HIGLY recommend this book, and then if you’re feeling like you want more of this story, watch the Hulu tv show haha

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Rape

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Violence

afroditesdorter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

When I found out at the end that this was the first author's novel I was left speechless. What a delight! Every character's voice is distinctive and unique, they are complex and flawed, but over all of them, Covey's voice whenever she just took over in those letters,  completely destroyed me and stood out the most. I could feel without fail all her love, pain and regrets and those were the paragraphs that broke me the most.

The story deals with topics such as immigration, racism, colourism, gambling issues, biphobia, sexual assault, domestic abuse, colonialism (specifically the West Indies-The UK, America and Spain) and its consequences even in the way the characters viewed their oppressors' land as full of opportunities and then became disillusioned and appalled by the bigotry and lies. It also deals with conflicts such as police brutality and abuse, the difficulties both women (just for being women sometimes) and men of colour face in the workfield; as well as how colourism and gender plays a big role in it.

But most of all it's a book about family history, heritage, feeling torn and at a crossroad with your identity (multiculturalism, hybridity, cultural assimilation, etc.), feeling lonely and ashamed by unfair things that happened to you (mostly women), white lies, safety and love. Above all. It's a book about love. A mother's love for her children. Family's love, friends' love, sibling's conflicts and love and romantic affection. Love for yourself, your safety and your life. 

And: What are you willing to sacrifice for x?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Mental illness, Slavery, Trafficking, and Death of parent

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

This book is tense and beautiful. It explores family dynamics and realizing your parents are people. If you liked The Bee Sting or If I Survive You you'll love this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Domestic abuse

tamaramo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Colonisation

eve81's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape

patsypoo's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious medium-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? Yes

3.0

I liked Black Cake but I didn't love it. It started out very strong but the last quarter of the book dragged on for me.
I really enjoyed the Caribbean/Covey part of the narrative but I wasn't sold or invested on the rest.
The writing was odd and the constant use of characters' names rather than using pronouns every now and then was annoying.
I also felt that a lot of the environmental and social issues were just tacked on for the sake of it.
There's one particular scene about a police traffic stop that was completely pointless. You literally meet one of the characters involved just then, the traffic stop happens, some stuff follows, there's a mention of protests and none of it is ever mentioned again. All of that happens over about 2 or 3 pages and that's it. Baffling.
There was a lot of telling but not much showing and some of the characters needed to be more developed.
Having said all that, the parts in the Caribbean were very enjoyable and the mystery at the heart of the story kept me reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racism, and Alcohol

asiminam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation

jlfields925's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation