Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

72 reviews

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chlschn's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Moderate: Racism

beccasid's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

emotional informative sad fast-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

jourdanicus's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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? No

3.75

I'm finding it so hard to rate this book. 

Based on the summary and my past experience with the author, I figured this would be a resounding 5⭐ read for me. The going was really good, and I loved the writing style. Having multiple narrators made the audiobook so engaging (although the English narrator for Theo has an awful American accent... Lol, sorry).

But... I just... Felt that the ending was SUCH a flop. Maybe I'm spoiled on having happy endings from reading so much romance, I don't know...

Aside from the ending, I mainly have complex feelings on how the topic of race was handled in this book. There was so much detail and sensitivity, and yet... Not a lot of nuance? I know from the Afterword that Brooks really did her research for this book, including having Black early readers, which is good to do. But there were still some parts that felt a little forced. And then (back to my problems with the ending)

to kill Theo off, in a police shooting no less?

Like... Why? I'm not against tragedy in a story, but tragedy that seems to serve no purpose to the plot? Okay, maybe that was the point, since police violence against Black people is so senseless in real life. But I was then made uncomfortable by the focus shifting to Jess's awkward grief and white guilt over the whole thing.

I wish the end hadn't soiled the rest of the book for me, because really it was an interesting, uncommon story, beautifully told. It just needed a stronger finish.

I'm off to look up nonfiction accounts of Black equestrians now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Racial slurs, Grief, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kbifolck's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

The Jess/Theo romance and the final plot twist dampened my appreciation for this book. They really took me out of what the author was building and I'm not sure these developments were needed. I think the author could have kept the same trajectory and meaning of the story without those events. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and War

Minor: Alcoholism

whiteraven191's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death of parent

jcphillips115's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

elliereads580's review against another edition

dark tense 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? No

3.75

This book  started out strong, and I really wanted to like this book.

I felt it dragged a lot in the middle and had a twist at the end that I felt was unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

kaakison's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Police brutality