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rei_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Blood, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Vomit, Addiction, and War
Minor: Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Pregnancy
meroth07's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Violence
808jake_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Drug use
serendipitysbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Small Mercies is set in South Boston during the tumultuous years of the busing crisis, an attempt to desegregate public schools by bussing students. In those times of heightened racial tensions a young Black man is found dead on a train platform in a white area, and a young white woman who is implicated in his death disappears. There is a lot more depth to the plot that that and a surprising amount of nuance. Lehane does a couple of things particularly well in this book. The first is his depiction of Southey, the predominant white, Irish Catholic working class neighbourhood, at the centre of the novel. He highlights the good - the strong sense of community - and the bad - organised crime, drugs and racism. The latter is particularly confronting, especially the sheer number of racial slurs the characters spew out. The second is his characterisation, especially of Mary Pat, mother of missing teen Jules. She’s a scrappy tough broad and certainly personifies the expression “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” if the woman scorned is an avenging mother. But Mary Pat is also memorable for a subtler reason and that is her changing position with regards to race. At the start of the novel she is clearly as racist as her neighbours, strongly objects to the desegregation of schools, and unthinkingly accepts and repeats racial stereotypes. But over the course of the novel she begins to acknowledge the falseness of racial stereotypes, the harm caused by racism, and her role in raising a racist daughter and contributing to Jules’s actions. In times of stress, pressure or when challenged she falls back to her racist ways. Still it is really interesting to see this evolution develop.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Racism, and Racial slurs
llayaz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Cursing, Child death, Grief, Drug use, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, and Drug abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, and Infidelity
clellman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Violence, Gun violence, Cursing, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Abortion, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, and Mass/school shootings
magpie_'s review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Toxic friendship, Classism, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Hate crime, War, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Suicide, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, and Drug abuse
Minor: Hate crime, Vomit, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, War, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings
lorit1227's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, and Racial slurs
mysterymom40's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Addiction, Torture, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Hate crime
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Suicide
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
brooke_city's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A simple plot with complex feelings. An ugly time in America's past; and present, tbh.
On the surface, it's about a mother's search for her daughter. At its core, it's a story of hate/hope. (I liked how Bobby put that: the opposite of hate isn't love, but hope.)
Mary Pat is a frustrating character to be in the head of. She fancies herself better than the other Southies who wear their racism on their sleeve, but she's just as quick to make snap judgments. She's one of those "you're a good Black, not like the others" racist.
As a reader, you can feel her desperation of wanting to know what happened to her daughter. And it takes her into some feelings she wouldn't otherwise have, had Jules not been involved in the murder of Auggie. And just when you think "she finally gets it," she slides right back into her whiteness and feeling of superiority.
Mary Pat fostered a home of hatred. Bobby's character is proof of nature vs nurture, bc despite his parents being dysfunctional, abusive drunks, they didn't tolerate racism. I think his relationship with Carmen shows that everyone can have baggage, preconceived notions, diff backgrounds – but can come together by communicating.
It's a heavy, heavy story. And I can't imagine anyone else but Robin Miles narrating it flawlessly. A Black woman delivering a dark time in our history with great inflection. Rage inducing and heartbreaking at the same time.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship