Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Vända hem by Yaa Gyasi

270 reviews

minnow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

A stunning, heartbreaking book. This book follows two branches of a family throughout generations, telling heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story. We see slavery at its peak from the viewpoints of both the slaves and the African slavers, and then we follow the echoes of those experiences through multiple generations. The story is lush and vivid, graphic scenes are delivered with an edge but never go too far. 

I deducted a partial star only because there is one storyline that was paced too slowly, in my opinion. I found myself caring a little less about that character and the story dragged in that part. All other storylines were perfectly paced and engaging.

The ending of this story is beautiful, and very satisfying. All in all, a masterpiece of a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying

cortingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.0

Heartbreaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Colonisation, War, and Classism

hannah_the_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Excrement, Trafficking, and Colonisation

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

zara89's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

alishaabrahamsreads's review against another edition

4.0

i kinda feel like marjorie in the 2nd to last chapter when mrs. pinkston asks her if she likes or loves a book. if she can feel a book "deep within her" 

i think, unfortunately i only like this one. i can acknowledge the absolute mastery of craft Yaa Gyasi holds and the way her characters feel real and layered. but for some reason i didn't feel it "deep within me" -- maybe bc each ch is something new and newly horrific as well, but something just didn't click with me

also please look into TWs bc each chapter has something triggering in it (based on history, real world scenerios) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

merakiforest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Gore, and Mental illness

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

megelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

"...everything was everything. Everything bore the weight of everything else."

This is an absolute masterpiece. It's sprawling and all-encompassing whilst at the same time being deeply, deeply intimate. Naturally I connected to some characters and storylines more than I did others, but it was just such a privilege to be able to get to know so many members of one family over so many centuries. Yaa Gyasi does so much with so comparatively few pages for the multitudes this book contains, and it never feels as if anyone or anything isn't given the time and space and exploration they deserve. I am completely astounded that this is a debut novel.

I'm honestly struggling to form coherent thoughts but this just completely hit me on a level I was not expecting and I am just absolutely obsessed with it. It has so many important things to say about ancestry, history, race, relationships, and so much more, and I honestly cannot recommend it highly enough (but do be aware that it's extremely heavy - pls check content warnings <3).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Vomit

suryac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

The family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position

Forgiveness, they shouted, all the while committing their wrongs

5/5🌟

How can a debut novel be this good ? Honestly the thing that surprises me more is the fact that it's a short book ( only 300 or so pages ) even though the story spans over two centuries, exploring each sister's family through the years. When I first started the book, I was sceptical, because it has a lot of characters and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep all the characters and their origin in place, but the way it was written, like a collection of short stories all related to previous generation made reading this book enjoyable.

Among all the books I've read in this particular genre, I loved reading it the most and that's all down to author's storytelling and the research behind it. I was able to learn more about slave trade and how it started out in countries like Ghana and the relationship dynamics between the slavers, the middle man and the British.

Especially with Esi's family line, It was disheartening, reading about the cruel laws that permitted the enslavement and wrongful imprisonment of innocent people in those times and it is heartbreaking to acknowledge the fact that it still persists today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

rebalwil's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

soapsoapsoap's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation