Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

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

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Miscarriage

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. 

Spoiler

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

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

robinsharma'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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is immense. Not only is it 800 pages, but it was historically detailed with many characters and a lot of heavy content. I am extremely impressed by the author, and can understand why it took 12 years to write. There were sections of this book I loved, and some that read too much like a textbook. The middle of the book was the most impactful for me. The ending came full circle but left me unfulfilled. Maybe if I had the time to read it in a few days, it would have impacted me more. But this beast was the longest book I’ve ever read, and it took me a month to do it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Slavery

kierajane's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Addiction, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Grief, and Sexual violence

celesteleila'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 book is the best book I ever read. This story was one that I wish I had had all my life. As a woman descended from the South, this book song to me, angered me, and drew tears from a faraway place in my soul. Jeffers is the kind of writer that knows how to paint a visual with her words and engross the reader with story. Love Songs soared through time effortlessly, sharing stories long lost waiting to be uncovered by the curious. This book, this story, this family …. timeless. Read it prepared to think, grieve and listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Drug abuse, Rape, Colonisation, Grief, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Racism

cheryl1213's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Among the best I read in 2021 (fixed my own memory glitch there...feels more recent) . Thankful to the publisher for the ARC. The fact that I feel capable of writing thus overdue review says a lot. (I justify my bibliohoard in part bc the nuances of my memory results in books often feeling brand new when I revisit them.) Definitely plan to reread this

It it quite accurately described as a "saga" ... and not just because of the length. It's immersive but not as overwhelming as the page count might suggest. A main protagonist (a strange phrase but one fit for a lot of novels published in the early decades of the 21st century) links the reader to other women in her family. We get to know several sub-protagonists and experience both the beauty and the pain that is shared alongside maternal DNA. The women aren't perfect, but the author is talented enough that we're drawn in and care.

There's a lot here. It's ambitious enough to be fairly characterized as a story of America. It's also specific enough to be about the experience of being a Black American Woman in the context of a family and history. Themes include race, gender, and inherited trauma. We encounter abuse (sexual and other; child and adult victims; family perpetrators and others), racism (overt and quieter); drug abuse; depression; and more. A lot of books try to cover all or some of this ground. This feels much more successful than most. The fact that the novel still feels unique and real ... that the events seem natural, rather than forced in to check off a box ... is a feat in itself. 

If you are concerned about trigger warnings, it's probably there. 

Two notable and random bits that stand out in my memory:  1) Characters coming of age and finding themselves in an economic ditch from which selling illegal drugs seems like the only potential way out (and the temptations the temporary career move creates). 2) A lighter yet deeply rich scene in which a minor character (watched by one of our protagonists) visits a Black-owned homestyle restaurant and attempts to order a diet-conscious salad (it may not be fair, but i see it as an upper-middle class, suburban meal) but finds greens aren't quite what she envisions.

......

Post-review note: Someone on a review site says "If you are a white reader, THIS BOOK IS NOT WRITTEN FOR YOU!!! If it comes into your hands, know that you are on sacred ground and act accordingly. Read it with humility and with wonder." I'd like to think the book is "for" anyone who chooses to read it. I certainly felt it had much to offer me (a white woman who has spent much of her 45 years in middle to upper-middle class homes, mostly eastcoast subruban, some geographically southern but not deep South, cultural Jew but very much a hidden minority who absolutely has not experienced life in Black skin). That said, I'll own my privilege. And hope wonderment shows  I have little doubt that the experience of this book will be very different for different readers. It would be a wonderful book to discuss with a group of diverse, respectful, honest readers (yes, I'll recognize the difficulty of finding such a group and the many pitfalls (including otherness traps and recognizing each reader as speaking only for themself))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Mental illness, Racism, and Slavery

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

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

azariamckay's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, Abortion, Rape, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, and Drug abuse