Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

23 reviews

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

This was one of my most anticipated reads as I had heard so many great things about it. Unfortunately, I really did not end up liking it. This book literally made me sick to my stomach with some of the things that happened. Maybe I need to rethink my belief that I have no content triggers. As someone who normally loves family dynamics and conversations surrounding relationships, I struggled with this a lot. When I walk away from the book with this feeling, I always struggle to know whether or not the feeling is based in the fact that I listened to the book on audio rather than physically read it. I’ll never know the answer for sure because when I dislike a book so much, I’m not going to spend my time reading it a second time. I’m very happy that so many people really enjoyed this, bummer I couldn’t be one of them.

Content Warnings

josie2k's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

imogenlj's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

shoohoob's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Found this book randomly through my storygraph recommendations and I was absolutely floored! I’d happily read a full length story for each of the stories in this book.

Some of the stories did feel a little unfinished when they ended. I feel like all of them could have used a little more closure.

Content Warnings

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

i didn’t think i could ever give a story collection 5 stars. this collection had absolutely no misses, a few were better than others, but none were even close to bad. i loved loved this book.

Content Warnings

gabichatslit's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

A really amazing collection of short stories that find black women of various ages grappling with the desires of their heart and the ways they come up against their faith practice/beliefs, and the teachings of the church. I was blown away by the poetics of Philyaw’s prose. How melodic some of these stories read. Also the way I was mindblown by the connection between ‘Peach Cobbler’ and ‘Instructions for Married Christian Husbands.’ The characters in these tales felt so real. My favorites include the two aforementioned stories, as well as Not-Daniel, Dear Sister, and How to Make Love to a Physicist. I’m really excited to read what Philyaw releases next, she is a wordsmith.

Content Warnings