Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

32 reviews

teleo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

This book is so beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Islamophobia

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

mstejpal's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

valeriedittrich's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

wept in public when i finished this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death

bookthia's review against another edition

emotional fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

A strong 4.5 review for this one.  Told in multiple voices, the story of a community in east Scarborough, where poverty, addiction. racism and homelessness are rife.  In real life too.  These characters felt alive to me, real.  I can easily imagine this being a true story.   There are good people and bad people and sometimes good people who are also bad people -- this book illuminates them all, including how good people are forced into bad choices.  Using children as some voices allowed Hernandez to illustrate the loss of innocence in a powerful way.  The character of Mina was a conduit for illustrating institutional racism so authentically.  Brilliant.  This book was in Canada Reads in 2022 and could easily have been the winner in any other year.  Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

brerabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-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 and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

souplover2001's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

"every day, i am inspired by these people's resiliency. every day, i am honoured to know them all." 😭😭 cried so bad reading this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, and Child death

capacity4wonder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

Community is everything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Death

jessahrens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I bawled

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia

Minor: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

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