Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

4 reviews

kirstinlwx's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

4.75

With a bit of a tough start, infuriating because of its incredibly realistic depiction of social systems and programming in Scarborough/the GTA, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be the book for me. But then I couldn’t put it down. 
My heart ached and burst for all of these characters, and the weaving of their stories struck realization after realization of deep interconnectedness. Hernandez depicts each of these characters, even those who only get a single chapter, with a depth and rawness that I couldn’t look away from. 
The recognition of the human experience in this book is beautiful, and I’ll be recommending it to many people (especially my friends in the nonprofit sector). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, and Police brutality

nvrrrdie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

This book was really far out of my comfort zone so I don't really know if I can give it a fair review.  I agree with other readers that people may want to review content warnings before reading at their own discretion.

This book had powerful character writing and was very emotional, which I appreciated. I think it was trying to do something really strong with the families depicted and I think it was successful for the most part. 

I don't live in Scarborough, but I do live in the GTA so some parts of this were close to home for me. However I didn't like how some characters felt like examples or lessons rather than fully written people. I felt like this was really strong with Viktor's character and it was just kind of reductive and disappointing. Those parts of the story felt like a cheap way of viewing others experiences as displayed for an outside observer and I don't feel like it was useful to the greater picture of the story either.

There are several issues I take with this book but the writing was really interesting and I think it was a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Excrement, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

samplanett's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Hate crime and Self harm

kassidypf13's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury