Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

46 reviews

mandarose79's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Slavery

lou_mac's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

I really struggled with the first part of this book- the story sort of slipped over me and I couldn't hold on to the characters and what they were doing, but something switched around the half way point. The story was engaging, I suddenly felt I understood the characters and really fell in love with the books magic. The idea of making the magic memory was beautiful to me, and it did make me have a little cry and points.
It was also fascinating to see a magic lens on slavery and the underground railway - and I think this book balanced the complexity and nuances of the underground operation beautifully.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Death

saoirsem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

corngod31's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

vedpears's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Gore

readbycarina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Suicide, Stalking, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Infidelity and Pregnancy

schausjk's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm rather conflicted on how to rate this one. I struggled a lot with getting through the first half of the book. The plot there felt kind of meandering and very slow, even as there were chunks of text that were very poetic. It very much felt like a heavy-handed telling rather than a showing, especially since it was being told in the first person by an older Hiram whose later experiences often colored the retellings of the earlier days. There were a lot of times that details were repeated multiple times, to the point where it felt like the author didn't trust us to remember them, or that readers couldn't be expected to draw out a symbol or a train of thought to its natural conclusion without the author explicitly walking us step by step to it. 

In particular, the way he kept emphasizing that he remembered everything got pretty old.

 There were also a few narrative gaps that left me wondering if I'd accidentally skipped ahead, even though I hadn't.

That being said, I did very much enjoy the magical realism aspect of the book once it became fully fleshed out in the latter portion of the book. It would have been nice to have seen that more gradually and thoughtfully woven in throughout the story, as much of the story felt far removed from it. I've seen some reviewers suggest that the magical realism portion could have been removed entirely to make the story more cohesive, but I disagree as I found it to be the most compelling part of the novel. 

Overall I'm very glad I stuck with this one. I do plan on reading more of Coates' nonfiction work, as his writing style does seem well-suited to that type of writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, and Violence

rai's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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? No

3.25

I loved the final event and where everything drew together but it just was a very dense novel for me. It's a serious subject matter and culturally I can understand why it's becoming a classic but it's also a hard read. I'm glad I finished it but I wouldn't do it again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and War

porterpa's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Slavery

Minor: Violence

cbaker's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Classism