Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

122 reviews

elizabeth_archery's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Racism, and Death of parent

ainaruizdegauna's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

When I started this book fir my book club, I didn't expect to get so attached to the characters and to cry so hard at some points of the book. But here we are. Brilliant book. You should read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Misogyny, and Car accident

blueberry0531's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Racism, and Self harm

Moderate: Child death and Domestic abuse

emilyswiggle's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Alcohol

maireadryan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.75

I had complicated feelings about this book. I thought Tia Williams did an incredible job portraying pain and what it’s like to live with a disability, addiction, recovery, depression, self harm, and the toll of poverty on a person. I enjoyed seeing Eva and Shane’s growth throughout the story and their deep connection felt palpable. However, the side characters were all so extreme in their personalities that they seemed more like caricatures of people rather than supporting characters with substance. Additionally, the languages and pop culture references really date the story and things like the use of social media (twitter, instagram, etc) seem exaggerated. Every time it was mentioned it took me out of the story. I wish we got more of a conclusive ending and saw more of Shane and Eva as an adult couple. The ending left me dissatisfied and wanting more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

saranevada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, and Car accident

hannahelaine's review against another edition

DNF @ 36%. I honestly am just getting a lot of cognitive dissonance from this book? It literally has a “The State of the Black Author” panel in the book that condemns blaxploitation in media, and how there needs to be more black joy and showing black people as literally just any other person instead of deeply and always traumatized. And then it seems (to me, who is a white person) to do exactly the opposite and be the paragon of blaxploitation.  Maybe I’m missing something since this book isn’t written for me specifically and I don’t have the cultural context for it. I don’t know. But it seems very dissonant in what it’s saying and doing. It feels icky. I may be misinterpreting the author— I certainly haven’t stumbled on any black reviewers saying the same thing, so I may be totally getting it wrong. But it feels icky for me, so I’m just going to leave it. 

I honestly don’t even have thoughts on the romance or even the plot because that has overshadowed everything else for me.  I feel weird about it and I’m just not going to continue. 

Finally, this is a little more a nitpick than criticism on the book, but some content warnings would be good to put in this one. There’s a lot of extremely dangerous self-harming situations. I didn’t know this going in, and recently have been having pretty bad mental health issues requiring partial hospitalization. Luckily It didn’t throw my mood or thoughts in a bad direction, but it could have. A little warning ahead of time would have been nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sarajuni's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

mrsbodey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.75

They spend a week together as teens and then become authors and write to/about each other ever since. The premise is darling. The book didn’t quite deliver on being darling. It was still a really good book. Challenging, sometimes dark, very realistic characters. Read it! But not if you’re looking for something charming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

carlomartinez__'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Gaslighting, and Abandonment