Reviews tagging 'Rape'

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé

19 reviews

charlott_e's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Blood

Moderate: Rape

callme_tippy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was was absolute perfection and has changed my mind on historical fiction. 

I picked this one up at my local library, the title caught my eye as I was walking out and I am so happy I stopped to pick it up as this might have been my favorite read this year. 

I can't exactly put my finger on why I loved this book so much but I am going to say that majority of it has to be because of Conde's writing prowess. Conde was able to weave together a novel about this woman that history has forgotten in a heartbreaking, raw, and beautiful way. 

This book has changed my perspective on historical fiction, I enjoyed the history and the value it added to the story. I am now much more open to reading historical fiction, I enjoyed the value the history added a lot more than I expected I would. 

I am excited to read more work by Conde, and more historical fiction in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

librumlegos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This is an incredible book without a doubt but perhaps the subject was too difficult for me. I’ll definitely think about it often. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

hannah_bookworm's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Colonisation

rafacolog's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Suicide

lexaprose_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Highly recommend. It is very sad, but beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, and Antisemitism

gravedavis's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

Beautiful prose and lifelike characters — I was assigned this novel for a University Literature course and ended up returning to it a year later to read it outside of academic context. Tituba's character is far from perfect, but her rawness as a human draws the reader to her story and the colonial world it is told in. I found some of the themes left room for further exploration; the commentary that is made is very explicit and leaves little space for interpretation, whereas some of the more nuanced themes felt hollow at points. That being said, Condé's writing reads like butter. It's poetic and engaging, I was so engrossed and read the book in two short sittings. Would definitely recommend, especially if you are interested in witchcraft or the colonial Americas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Torture, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

capucapulet's review against another edition

dark emotional

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Slavery

amkclaes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense fast-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

4.75

I loved this book. the story of Tituba, a woman born on a plantation in Barbados - it starts strong, she's born through the rape of her mother by the plantation owner.
Tituba's perspective is tragic, fresh, cunning... the story is so obviously horrible and full of suffering, but her pov adds so much depth and humanity to it all. i haven't read a bunch of stories set in slavery conditions, but i really appreciated that this was not trauma porn like in the least. in fact this was really masterfully done, i was totally absorbed and got through it quickly, even though i felt like the last part lagged a little, outside of that this was really a perfect novel to me.
it's funny that she references Ann Petry in the end, because as I was reading this I thought of The Street, especially the way the main character, as a black woman, provides truly intersectional analysis of the people around her, commenting on gender, class, even age, as well as race, and specifically shows the ways that we can be supported and betrayed by those with whom we find some kinship. 
beyond all of that, the story is really gripping, and i love the witch parts, the supernatural elements and the relationship to the natural world, and healing, its so cool. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

monkai's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide