Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

50 reviews

ryanbada's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative lighthearted 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury

satashii's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

3.5

This is one of those books that you probably should read because of how informative and in-your—face it is about uncomfortable things—the black experience in Georgia going back to the 1600s when the land was occupied by the Creek. It’s informative but also heart breaking in so many ways.

So why such a low rating? 

Because this is a book that, imo, needed an editor to make it a tighter story.  There’s a good 200 pages of this book that make the story drag on and on.  If I hadn’t already hit the halfway point when it really started to slow it’s momentum I’d probably would have DNF’d it but I slogged ahead determined to finish. 

Was the end worth it?  Yes.  Did I think the main character Ailey had an effective character arc?  Somewhat. 

I really struggled with Ailey being the spoiled younger daughter that wasn’t really growing up/maturing.  While I was sympathetic to Lydia’s death and how devastating it was for her, she could be a selfish brat for the middle third of this book that was not endearing her to me.  Her relationships with men and how toxic they were I felt distracted a lot from the other parts of the narrative and the back and forth between present and past didn’t always feel like it was integrating well.  Tbh I would have probably been more interested in seeing Coco’s viewpoint rather than Lydia’s drug spiral.   In the end, I wasn’t wholly satisfied by Ailey’s relationship choices other than I did like that she seemed to be ending up with David at the end.

So subtracting one star for the need for editing and another half star for what felt like, to me, like gratuitous lingering on sex scenes that weren’t really driving the narrative further and felt distracting. 

Overall, I’d recommend it as a read if you haven’t read Toni Morrison’s  work or Octavia Butler’s Kindred… but I’d probably recommend them over this book.   
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Grief

deereadingwallflower's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

toriauricht's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence

roasjeno's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Beautiful. Lyrical. Truly a masterpiece. Jeffers paints each character with such fine detail to convey these were and are real people; she challenges us to feel empathy for people we have been told are the past. I personally love intergenerational family sagas, and especially appreciated how these tales were woven into our main character’s research, as if we were following along with the author Jeffers as she researched for this novel. I’d say that this book is comparable in its scope and (potential) influence to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Márquez.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

qqjj's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

taibreakfast's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

I recommend buying a physical copy to read, if you can. It is long and I wish I had done that so I could steadily read it, instead of being at the mercy of the library. Also it goes back and forth between different characters, generations, and time periods, and it would have been helpful to be able to easily refer to the family tree. Obviously can in an eReader but just easier with a book.

Notes on medium aside, a must read if you can, although do check out the content warnings, there are many.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Colonisation

Minor: Death, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jennikreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

chirazhene's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

adina_zeling's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, and Trafficking

Minor: Infidelity and Suicide attempt