Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Το σβήσιμο by Percival Everett

33 reviews

chwinters's review against another edition

challenging funny medium-paced

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

speaking as someone who is also a member of the “i will bury all my feelings here, and then one day! i’ll die!” slash “step one: bottle emotions; step two: molotov cocktail” crowd: oh bitch, relate. 

and speaking as someone who feels a strong urge to square up and wind up whenever academics get hoity toity in the language department for no reason: i will drown this man in the bathtub. 

that said, really good. i’m glad i read it before watching american fiction, which you should watch. it’s really good. 

very funny book, and also makes so much fun of the main character all the time. bill was hilarious

(i’m still giggling over the “this letter will explain everything. fuck you!!!” bit)

, the character’s assertion of his thoughts about race, and then “so i was spacing off thinking about orientalism…” i cackled. just absolutely lampooned a certain brand of neuroticism, and identity. 

remember kids, you can define yourself however the hell you want, but defining yourself in opposition to something is still defining yourself by it. 

and thank god i was a sociology major, otherwise i’d have no clue who the hell hegel was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

josie2k's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

chris_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Dementia, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Dysphoria

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Murder

rheagoveas's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, and Violence

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Gun violence, Dementia, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide

andreabey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, Abortion, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

perlaesq's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book was incredible. Some portions were challenging to read, as they dove into philosophy and linguistics in a way I haven't had to read since college, but everything rewarded you.  Deeply human, complicated, heartbreaking, enraging.

The ending is incredible, and I hear it's very different from the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia

ashleyw2021's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

katewhite77's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't usually like novels that mess around with form

However, this is brilliant. We follow Monk through a crazy time in his life by reading his notebook and journal. We are also privvie to his latest literary offering.

Here, Everett uses humour to mercilessly critique the presence of institutional racism mainly in the publishing industry, but elsewhere, too. He does this by publishing the racism to extreme to see where it might land.

The greatest compliment I can give this book is that one day, I would like to write something similar around disability. 

There is also a sweet subplot about how to grow old gracefully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

amanda_marie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The first person POV really helps sink you into the mind of Erasure, so it reads almost as a diary as the narrator comes up with jokes, reminisces, and devolves. It is at times incomprehensible without a Google search open, but that adds to the eccentricities of the narrator, for he doesn’t know how to be comprehensible anymore. It was a bit jarring to read an entire novel within a novel, and some of the asides were confusing. But the book overall covers so many topics and issues, makes fun of itself while making fun of others, and parodies a life we’re still living over 20 years post publication. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism