Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

10 reviews

genevakelly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Murder

cal_the_queer's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

useyourgoodeye's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This book took me 16 days to read because I had to step away from it a lot to process it fully. Very eye opening and there is a movie out called Origin about the book that I'll be watching soon (Hulu). This is a very difficult and emotional book to get through. It requires you to examine your own life and the lives of others at a level which can make you uncomfortable, sad, and angry. Totally worth it though. It should be used in colleges across the world as required reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Deportation

micaelamariem's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

 found this book to be very educational, motivational, and eye-opening. It was interesting, though brutal, to learn the full scale of the history of caste in america and how awful we can be as humans. I think everyone could benefit from reading this. However, though I agree with Wilkerson on everything including the politics of today, I can see how it might polarize people to where they’d miss the point she’s trying to make. I also think the cohesiveness of the narrative could have been better. Still, overall a great read of a dark history and startling present! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dianapiskor's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Wow wow wow did I learn a great deal in this book. I think this is a must read for any individual, especially for those living in what is a caste system in America. Poignant, well researched, and well written, this book was difficult, but important, to read, as it lays out it's argument that in the United States, not all are born free and have never been so, even since the beginning of this nation's founding.

This novel argues that we have a caste system in the United States and that African Americans are at the bottom of this caste. Through exclusion, violence, and other strategic means, the United States has created a system where those at the bottom MUST stay at the bottom of a caste hierarchy or face the consequences. This is engrained in every facet of American life and has been done so in order to disenfranchise African Americans and to keep them in their caste. 

This book was enlightening, if not horrifying. The author lays out EVERYTHING the United States has done in order to subjugate African Americans and the extent to which individuals have done so is disgusting and terrifying. This is not an easy read. It is uncomfortable for those who are not aware of the deep history of this subjugation. But it is necessary to understand, to relate, and to see the effects of caste within our current events and the current day. 

This is an absolute must read, especially as the United States continues to see the issues of caste within the news, politics, and society. If you thought that these issues faced by Black individuals was a thing of the past, buckle up, because one cannot escape the past when it is woven into the present. However, please be aware of triggers, as part of this book can be upsetting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Colonisation

grubloved's review against another edition

it spends so much time trying to assure the reader that racism is real that it doesn't actually do any meaningful analysis?? it kind of reads like a baby's first racism primer. weird also that it kind of handwaves the entire existence of every racial group other than black and white; it makes sense once you understand it is specifically a book about antiblack racism in america, but even the book seems confused about what its purpose is, continually claiming to describe an entire system and then only fixating on one aspect -- feels a little shallow. 

also weird that india's caste system is a selling point but is honestly barely present in the book, and that nazi germany is consistently held up as another state creating an underclass (the goal wasn't an underclass of jews. it was no more jews. this is not very analogous to a caste system). 

the alpha wolf chapter was also absolutely atrocious and i think is a really good example of a lot of the problems i had with the text. it was really strange for the book to claim that racism's big downsides are largely that naturally superior people who happen to be in the wrong caste can't assume their rightful place as leaders, and that naturally inferior people who are in the upper caste should be allowed to be ruled by their betters ??? it continually seems to insist that hierarchy is not the problem, but that it is simply a wrong hierarchy and that we should adjust to follow a better natural order. just really really strange to read in a book about racism.

i really enjoyed the pillars of caste section but the rest of it just wasn't the indepth reading i was here for. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

nexusgoblin's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape and Murder

arthur_harris's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This book pulls absolutely no punches. It lays out the facts of its subject matter with a kind of frank, unflinching look at the truth that is so constantly softened and blunted in history. Deeply, grimly informative on the true history of the Black experience in the United States. A harsh reality check for those - like me - who grew up with a whitewashed view of American history. While this book is a difficult read in many ways, that is part of what makes it such a necessary one. It forces the reader to examine the deeply ingrained racism baked into the foundation of America, and the subsequent role of the (non-Black) reader in that racist system. An absolutely vital piece of literature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

madradstarchild's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Torture

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Racial slurs, Rape, Colonisation, War, and Classism