Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

6 reviews

pengintoppa's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Drug use, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cannibalism, War, and Slavery

softiejace's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Colonisation, War, Racism, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Addiction and Cannibalism

ggcd1981's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

The Sign of Four é o segundo livro na série de Sherlock Holmes e, na minha opinião, foi melhor do que o primeiro. Nessa obra a atmosfera de Londres Vitoriana estava ainda mais intensa e mesmo quando em partes do livro a narrativa mudou de localização para a Índia enquanto um dos personagens contava partes da história foi muito mais atmosférico e misterioso do que o enorme flashback nos Estados Unidos de A Study in Scarlet. A narrativa, acredito, foi mais bem construída também pois Holmes e Watson figuram na maior parte da história e não foram necessárias extensas porções do livro com personagens secundários e longe dos protagonistas, como foi o caso do primeiro livro. Em The Sign of Four foi introduzido a personagem Mary, interesse romântico de Watson. Ela é honesta, firme, de caráter e coragem, mas não foi particularmente marcante. O mistério foi mais intrigante também em relação ao primeiro livro, apesar do tema vingança ter se repetido, esse foi desenvolvido de forma mais interessante.

O cenário montado nessa segunda obra foi bem mais estimulante, especialmente com cenas marcantes como a cena de um dos personagens no seu leito de morte vendo na janela o rosto terrível do homem que temia.

Mesmo já sabendo um pouco do que se tratava a resolução do mistério (em se tratando de Sherlock Holmes é quase impossível não ter nenhum spoiler) ainda assim desfrutei da leitura. O ponto negativo do livro foi o racismo e o body shaming direcionado ao personagem que pertencia a um dos povos pigmeus. Isso é não justificável, mas esperado de um livro escrito em 1890. Tendo isso em vista minha nota da obra é baseada na atmosfera, personagens e o mistério desenvolvido. Assim dou 4.5 estrelas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Body shaming, Death, Murder, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Confinement, Ableism, and Stalking

Minor: Misogyny and Violence

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad 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? No

2.5

Ok, wow, mixed bag on this one. On one hand, the mystery its self is very fun; locked room, treasure, a mysterious calling card, its all cool. On the other hand, good God is this one racist. Most of the ACD Sherlock stories I've read keep that good ole' English racism to a minimum, but The Sign of Four seems to have dialed it up to ten to make up for that. I don't think you can go two pages here without reading multiple paragraphs of Watson or some other character just using the rudest, most vile descriptions possible for Indian people. I can't say I didn't expect it, because I know just how horribly the English viewed Indian people at the time, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to read. I'm not kidding, though, the racism in this one is really really bad, especially because we don't get the usual Holmes thing of having the story at least somewhat go 'um, actually, the people society hates are actually just people and it is in fact the rich bastards who suck'. Just yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Colonisation, Classism, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Medical content, Alcoholism, Gore, Murder, Sexism, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gun violence, and Slavery

londonsetterby's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.0

Incredibly racist.
Also tedious and goofy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, and Classism

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, and Racial slurs

jem_andtonic's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Religious bigotry

Minor: Drug use and Slavery

It’s a classic so there is some derogatory language that wouldn’t fly now days