Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

6 reviews

evieolive's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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

5.0

Just as important as I expected but I was really happily surprised to see such flowery writing in a contemporary, I loved the style! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Police brutality

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Antisemitism, Slavery, Body shaming, Mental illness, Grief, Drug abuse, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Classism

beb989's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.0

This book focuses on a part of history that no other book I’ve read has — the Rodney King trials and subsequent uprising in LA in the 90’s. It follows a Black teenaged girl who lives a financially privileged life. She and her all white friends go to a fancy private school that’s only 10 miles away from the heart of the unrest that follows the not guilty verdict in the King police brutality case. The main character, Ashley, learns about her family, history, and what it means to be Black in America from her sister, her uncle and cousin, and the few other Black students who go to her school. A coming of age story that incorporates what it must be like to be young and Black in America — across the span of history. The book, while set in the 90’s, has parallels that teenagers today can draw from to understand the world around them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Violence, Genocide, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

kimmykelly's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Mental illness, Cancer, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Bullying

ciea's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical trauma, Violence, Slavery, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mass/school shootings

whatellisreadnext's review

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤, 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘰? 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦? 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?

It's 1992, Ashley Bennett lives in Los Angeles, in a rich neighbourhood. Her parents have worked hard to shelter her from the world, to keep her protected. When violent protests sweep across LA, Ashley's own world starts to burn too.

This book is fantastic. There are so many different elements to it, it's a coming of age story, but it's also so much more than that. I learnt about Rodney King, and the riots that came after. I learnt how the system betrays people of colour every single day, whilst letting off white people for the same crimes. And I learnt that in nearly 30 years we appear to have made no progress. The parallels in this book to our current day were so apt and highly recommend you all grabbing yourself a copy.

I loved how this book felt like a snippet of Ashley's life, as she comes of age and is forced to face the reality, that her parents, have been trying to shield her from. She grows so much as a character throughout the book and I loved following her journey. 

The Black Kids is dripping in 90s nostalgia, and I know I was only born in 94 but I was just imagining all of the characters wearing high-waisted jeans and rocking out to Nirvana.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Police brutality