Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Native Son by Richard Wright

9 reviews

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Jordan Peele has nothing on the mind that is Richard Wright. I do not know if I was completely ready to read this black horror, but at the same time I am glad I did. 

The way Richard Wright was able to write a character like Bigger, whose only accomplishment is becoming what the world thought of him is heartbreaking. There were no winners or losers in this story, it completely showed how we all fall short and the consequences that come from that. 

Parts of this story had me holding my breath, and the panic and fear bigger felt throughout this whole story was so well written you could not help but feel it.

This book is a solid 4.5 stars. Very well done, but at the same time unfortunate that this needed to be written. A must read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Rape, Violence, Racism, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Antisemitism

juliabristow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Death

Minor: Alcohol and Rape

elizafiedler's review

challenging dark reflective fast-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? Yes

4.5

The narration is masterful. It lets us into Bigger's inner world in ways that Bigger seems incapable of expressing in words himself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

nonfictionfeminist's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Bullying, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

heybrownberry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This was so challenging to listen to without feeling  anger and sorrow, but that’s what gave the book its greatest appeal. It was so real and so emotional as to be completely believable and reflective true events.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Death, Abandonment, and Classism

hleary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Rape

Minor: Classism and Alcohol

michaelion's review

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Dear StoryGraph, I implore you, please add a trigger tag specifically for misogynoir, because it's disgusting how much of it is in this book.

The choice to open the book with Bigger killing a rat, then terrorizing his sister to the point where she faints and he laughs about it is mild foreshadowing of what's to come. Also, unrelated to the opening scene, there's something poetic about everything black men fear about being caught doing with a white woman, they do to Black women. Justice4Bessie!

If you're planning on reading this, brace yourself. In my edition, there was an excerpt where Wright tells the readers of a book club that the first draft of this book was 576 pages. Which actually makes me like this book less, because it could've easily been 200 pages shorter and been a tighter, sharper, better story. It was a drag to get through reading. In the third section of the book alone, one character monologues for 23 pages with no breaks. After a certain point you simply have to start skimming. But, I promise, you're not missing much.

I gave this rating an extra .25 for Jan and Max. It sucks that the characters I like most were the not-like-the-others whites!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual assault, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Classism, and Death

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Body horror, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, and Blood

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Blood, Classism, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Misogyny