Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

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

13 reviews

risqkae's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Violence, Hate crime, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Slavery, Abortion, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

4.5

This is a book I was recommended by a member of an online book club. I really had no idea what it would be about and sometimes I like to go into things with no preconceptions. The focus of this book is telling an intergenerational story of a family. It is fiction, but has the feel of several intergenerational narratives I have liked, such as Wild Swans. The focus of the narrative is Feminist and is an account of the history of Black Americans in the South (specifically Georgia).

Having read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, a lot of the plot points of this book were familiar. If you haven't learned much about the Antebellum South, this could be quite rough going. As a historian (main character) Ailey Pearl Garfield is often shaken, and moved to tears, by the accounts she unearths about happenings in her family's past.

This story is nuanced, and the characters feel like people rather than archetypes. Weaving a history filled with trauma would be pretty much impossible without some levity and there is a lot of dialogue that lightens the mood. Some of the humour is utterly hilarious and there are often call-backs to information about minor characters that pepper the backstory with shared in-jokes and form a real sense of this family inhabiting a rich world and community. There are a couple of LGBT characters in the story, and a family history of Dyslexia which becomes apparent as Ailey digs deeper into her family's story.

I could write an entire page to describe the content warnings... but I won't. Let's just say that Racism is the tip of a horrible, bloody iceberg, and that genocide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, suicide, drug addiction, miscarriage, gaslighting and oppression of various forms are all in this book. It's a big book.. there are a lot of words.. and not all of it is pretty.

The Audiobook is beautifully narrated by 3 different voice talents, and the story spans several different timelines, so if you are "reading" by Audiobook it's a good idea to download the supplemental material that lists the genealogy of the family, so you don't get lost.

Thoroughly recommend this book. I found myself really excited by some revelations near the end and more than once I got body chills and frisson from emotionally resonant bits. This would be a great bookclub read if you have people who read at about the same pace, and don't mind tomes that exceed 800 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Grief, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Excrement, Addiction, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Murder, Genocide, Suicide, Misogyny, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Torture, Homophobia, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Blood, Alcohol, Ableism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Gore, Classism, Child abuse, Abortion, Violence, Self harm, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Incest, Domestic abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Drug use, and Drug abuse

radlizareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abortion

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

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

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

plottwisttravels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Slavery, and Suicide

carmenvillaman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

bvilushis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.75

This is a multigenerational saga of an African-American family. The main protagonist is a young girl, Ailey, who is growing up in a middle class family in the 1960's through the 1980's. The book tackles the obvious issues of the day- racism, civil rights, and feminism- as seen through the lens of the Black community. Because of a family tragedy, Ailey loses her sense of purpose and drops out of college. Her beloved Uncle Root, a history professor, finds her a research job with one of his colleagues. Ailey's research uncovers shocking family secrets.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Slavery, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Addiction, and Colonisation

nishtrbg's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was beautiful. I’s consider this a will-be Black literature classic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Racial slurs, Rape, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

jessgreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Title: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

Author: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Chicasetta, GA / Harlem, NYC

Month Read: February, 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication: 2021

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 816

TRIGGER WARNING- 

There are too many to name, but some big ones include:

Racism / Genocide / Rape / Incest / Pedophilia / Suicide / Murder / Slavery 

"We are the earth, the land. The tongue that speaks and trips on the names of the dead as it dares to tell these stories of a woman’s line. Her people and her dirt, her trees,"

No Spoiler Summary:

The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois is a tour-de-force novel following a family from the slave trade to the civil war to modern day America, with many stops in-between. It ties in different works of W.E.B. Du Bois as you weave your way through time, and takes you on an incredible journey through centuries of Georgia.

Review:

I'm blown away by how incredible this novel is, and had no idea how many twists and turns I would be taken on while I read this. I wept, I cheered, I felt loss, sorrow, happiness, regret. It's an absolute must read novel for me, but I know the people who need to read this book most never will. 

I loved the split timelines, and I think the characters were all so perfectly placed where they needed to be in this book. I loved getting to follow the same plot of land through so much time, and when I started piecing together that these were all descendants of the original Native Americans living in that space, it was beautiful. 

There are a LOT of tough subjects in this book, and the hardest part for me is the chapters and chapters and chapters of slave child rape. If you're sensitive to this at all, I just want to make sure people really know this going in. It's very tragic, as everything about slavery is, but nothing is spared in detailing these horrific crimes against fellow humans. 

There is also some tough chapters about drug abuse, and it was just so sad seeing one of my favorite characters fall really hard due to drug use. It really brought things into perspective that it doesn't matter who you are, your family support system, your dreams--- it can all be taken away so, so fast. 

There's so much more to talk about- the writings or 'songs' of W.E.B. Du Bois prefacing each chapter, the ties of family, the beautiful prose that exists in this book- but I really just implore everyone to read it. I tried to take this book with one section at a time, especially because after some I felt like I really needed to sit and think about what I had just read. It's a big book, I won't shy away from that- but it's an incredibly worthwhile read. I'm grateful to Oprah and Obama for putting this on my radar. and I'm just very happy to have read it. 

See more reviews at:  https://jessgreads.wixsite.com

"These are the incongruities of memory. It is hard to hold on to the entirety of something, but pieces may be held up to light."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicide, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Incest, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Trafficking, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Addiction, Stalking, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Child death, Classism, Child abuse, and Abortion

Minor: Self harm, Body shaming, Bullying, and Sexism

trippalli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

A challenging but important read in the history of the black experience in the United States in this historic fiction. The violence in women and overt violence and abuse of humans. Numerous rapes, child sexual abuse murders, racism of course, slavery.. It's all very difficult to listen to on an audio book or read in this 600+ pages tome.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Suicide, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Slavery