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forza0930's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder
noteworthy_fiction's review against another edition
Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Death of parent, and Colonisation
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
gabriellewrren's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia