Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

24 reviews

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Excrement, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Death, Colonisation, Gore, Sexual violence, Child death, Torture, Murder, Blood, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Sexual assault

sereyn's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Violence, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Excrement, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

constancetheeacademic's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

James does a wonderful job of showing how colonialism affects the psychology of those who are enslaved. He crafts an engrossing tale of how the seeds of rebellion are sewn within a community of women on a Caribbean plantation. He also subtly emphasizes the importance of religion and the oral tradition are among the enslaved.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence

mereadme's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Violence, Death, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, and Racism

busybeezle's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Physical abuse

amris's review

challenging dark medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Colonisation, Racism, Torture, Rape, Slavery, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

polyphonic_reads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Gore, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, and Genocide

cass_lit's review against another edition

2.25

I may be in the minority here, but I hated this. I would have DNF’d if I didn’t own a physical copy and I started it for a readathon. But by the end, I was listening to the audio on 3x speed. 

I don’t think I can pick out exactly why I hated it so much. The book isn’t intended to be pleasant or enjoyable — it’s a book about slave women. There are all of the trigger warnings you would expect: violence, rape, racism (verbal and physical), etc. I knew that going in. Beyond that, I expected a different focus of the book. Maybe this was my mistake, but I thought there would be a little bit of magical realism element. I also knew Lilith would be the main character, but I thought the other “Night Women” would play a more important role. I thought their planning and community would be the focus, rather than Lilith’s internal struggles and questions. And it sucks, but I just hated Lilith. I get that she’s young when we start following her. I get that she’s literally never had a free choice or opportunity. I get that she’s born into hell and generational trauma and was made to be stronger than she ever should’ve had to be. But GOD is she ANNOYING. I was rolling my eyes at her constantly and by the end wanted to scream out loud at her to fight. 

Unfortunately, maybe it’s Marlon James and I that don’t mesh well. I also wanted to DNF Black Leopard, Red Wolf and by the end of that was at 3x speed audio as well. People loved that one too but it  wasn’t for me; I thought maybe a different genre would work better (it didn’t). And I’m not saying it can’t ever be done or done well, but there’s something about reading very explicit scenes with the rape of women that were written by men that really take me out of the story. 

The 0.25 was added at the end when you find out who the narrator is. I liked that twist. Also a little unique thing I enjoyed was all of the character names and their allegories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Drug abuse

waybeyondblue's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Death, War, Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness

liorallen's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Rape, and Colonisation