Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

19 reviews

emkschneider's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

anenome's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The story of Cussy Mary really drew me in, she was an extremely lovable and inspiring character.
The book is very informative, I learnt so much about the Pack Horse Library and blue people.
So many traumatic things happen at breakneck speed, it's incredibly emotionally affecting.
The audiobook narrator Katie Schoor was outstanding.

The writing style isn't very poetic and feels unsophisticated, it makes sense because the story is told in Cussy Mary's voice but it sometimes grated. 
The plot is repetitive;

someone bullies or assaults Cussy and somebody else will turn up and save her.

There was some oppression olympics saying anti-blue sentiment was worse than racism which was really unnecessary.

I would recommend this book as I learnt a lot from it and I enjoyed the rollercoaster of emotions it put me through.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

justmys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Incest, and Excrement

amateur_bookworm's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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

4.0

Genre: Historical fiction

My rating: 4

My summary: Set in Kentucky in 1936, Cussy is a 19-year old packhorse librarian, living at home with her coal miner father after her mother passed away about a year prior. Cussy, also known as Bluett, has a unique condition that makes her skin appear blue. This story follow Cussy through a series of life events and the people she interacts with in this poverty-stricken area, as well as the tribulations of being treated as a colored person during this time. 

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, mostly due to the narrator, she was perfect as Cussy. It was an emotional read at times, listening to the difficulties and tragedies both Cussy and other characters in the book encountered, as well as the triumphs they experienced and the small joys they were able to find. Before this, I was unaware of the “Blue People of Kentucky” and I was interested enough to research a bit on it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Sexual violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child death

katieem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma

omgmkg's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

I really loved this book! Historical fiction, strong women, dealing with difference, and loving books are all my jam in stories, so that helps a lot. I really enjoyed learning about the Packhorse Librarians and the adventurous aspects of the story. I thought the narrative was well crafted and tied together well, and I felt like I understood much more about Appalachia in the Depression because of this book. I fell in love with Cussy Mary and her patrons, and with the ways she found to relate to them and gain their trust (not just as a blue person but sort of as a government social program representative). 

The harm that comes to people that are not Cussy Mary in this book could have been a bit melodramatic, but I think it was just realistic enough and well written enough to pass. I agree with others that the violence Cussy Mary faces is at times a bit gratuitous… but also realistic. 
I share concerns that perhaps this was not the author’s story to tell. I 
 do not believe that the author meant to imply that being Blue was just as discriminated against as being Black in Appalachia/Philadelphia at the time, but I agree that too many parallels were being drawn. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Miscarriage

someryarns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body shaming, Incest, Rape, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.5

I usually love historical fiction but this one took so long to get going that I struggled a lot at first. It didn’t really take off for me until about 100 pages in which is nearly halfway, and that’s why I didn’t rate it higher. The second half of the book kept me reading and I didn’t want to put it down. The historical aspects of the KY Pack Horse program and the blue people of Kentucky were fascinating as a native Kentuckian, especially because I had never heard of the former prior to reading this book. The story is sad and tells of the hardships of rural, Appalachian life in the 1930’s and 40’s with candor and grace. It definitely makes you appreciate the technological, medical, and social advancements we’ve made and just how hardy a people the folks from mining country truly are. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

snowhite197's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical content, and Death of parent

schaunabraie3's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

Historical fiction usually isn’t my thing but I wanted to try something new when Booktenders WV posted about reading this for their book club.

I started it but got sick and had to miss. I would have usually just stopped reading it, but for some reason I didn’t and kept reading.

And wow…I can’t even wrap my head around it. I’m sitting here thinking of all the emotions in such a short time.

When fantasy is read it is all made up, but Kim Richardson did her research and poured her heart into this book and it shows.

I’ll probably make a video about how unbelievably amazing this book and what it talks about, but if you love to read…put this one on your list

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment