Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

10 reviews

hagwife's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book is insanely good and a read that greatly expands the audience's view of what is possible in fantasy writing. Perhaps the super short version is from Amar El-Mohtar, which described the books as "if Toni Morrison had written Ovid's Metamorphoses"(NPR, 2018).  The slightly longer version starts with awe at this beautiful landscape woven out of African history and African mythology. 

One of my favourite aspects of the novel is its narrative style. The entirety of the book is Tracker relaying his version of events to an inquisitor, though we never hear the inquisitor speak. As far as Tracker's story, most of that is told through conversations between characters, thus making the book almost entirely dialogue. Given that we are only receiving Tracker's version of events, there's a malleability to the story that is different from other uses of unreliable narrators. It feels less like intentionally diverting attention (Westworld) or subconsciously lying (Mr. Robot) and more so like an oral history. What is truth but the way one man saw the events and how he then chooses to remember them? And even if his version of the story doesn't match the "actual" events, what is to say that those events are any more true? This is a story where authenticity is not yoked to correctness, where truth is not an absolute because people are not absolute.

The theme of truth, the oral history style, and James' use of language combine into a worldview that feels authentic to the world in the novel. While written in English, it doesn't sound like English. James put a lot of effort into crafting a voice for his characters that sounds like a dialect, and not one where it's been translated, but one where the reader has a Star Trek-esque translation device – the characters speak and we understand. Perhaps the last novel I read where I was conscious of the amount of effort put into the way language works and how characters communicated was Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The fact that many readers have found it hard to read means, at least in my opinion, that James succeeded in writing pre-colonial communications with a post-colonial language. There's that has been written on this, but recently I've been thinking about a quote from wa Thiong'o's Decolonizing the mind: "language was the most important vehicle through which that power fascinated and held the soul prisoner...Language was the means of spiritual subjugation".   

I also enjoy how unapologetic and frank this book is in its queerness. We see many examples of platonic love, romantic love, and sexual attraction in all its various combinations between men. These relationships and encounters are vivid and intense; for Tracker, the line between love and hate is extremely thin and are characterized by the intenseness of his feelings, of the time and energy and many ways in which Leopard and Nyka and Mossi are intertwined with his life. And this queerness is shared and explored in a way that honors and explores the broadness of masculinity and how that impacts one's identity and vice versa.

I should point out that for any test related to the treatment and inclusion of women, this novel fails, and I think that's intentional. Tracker's relationships with women are extremely fraught, and though born out of trauma, extremely unfair to generalize, as several characters point out. It's interesting, because we don't meet any women or female presenting characters who challenge Tracker's beliefs with their actions, but we're left to wonder whether that is how these characters are or how Tracker sees them. I'm extremely interested in the second book in the trilogy, which tells the same tale, but from Sogolon's perspective. 

This is also an incredibly hard book to recommend. James does not care about your sensibilities, particularly if they are European or derive historically from European ones; he's not interested in White-washing events or making them more palatable. He has built a stark reality in the world of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, one that understands that you gain nothing by trying to make it pretty or talk around it. You're going to be uncomfortable and you should be uncomfortable; it's not supposed to be easy to read about violent acts or intense grief.  Most importantly though, please, please, please read the content warnings and take care of yourself first and foremost.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Grief, Rape, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Infidelity

Minor: Drug abuse, Incest, and Drug use

This book is not written with regards to Western conventions. It does not condone or uplift violence towards others but it is also not going to shy away from the realities of such acts. You will be uncomfortable because you should be uncomfortable.

malimaan's review against another edition

i tried to like this book, but the general descriptions of women, genitalia, graphic rape and incest, as well as bestiality made this a book I just couldn't get done..
every time I thought about opening the book i started to feel dread because it just made me so uncomfortable. 
the writing itself is really complicated and often poetic, which I appreciated. in the end, however, neither the promising story nor the writing style was entirely to keep me interested enough to finish.

i feel like this book is a good book for some people but the graphic details were just too much to make it enjoyable for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Cannibalism, Rape, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Sexual assault, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, Slavery, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Trafficking, and Torture

there is a scene in which the MC is gang raped by hyenas. additionally there are several instances of bestiality.

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

I'm fairly sure that people called this "the African Game of Thrones" for marketing purposes because they both occupy the epic fantasy space, but I think the comparison is apt for other reasons. Similar to how A Song of Ice and Fire is something of an examination and deconstruction of feudal fantasy and grapples with how myth, history, and subjective experiences tangle and interweave, Black Leopard, Red Wolf also tackles the interplay among truth, stories, and subjectivity. Admittedly, I initially found it difficult to detect and hook onto this theme, partially due to the book's graphicness as well as the fact that that's...simply how it goes with a lot of fantasy worlds. It took me about 100 pages to find my footing, and reading James' interview with the Boston Review was also very helpful (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/representation-doesnt-just-mean-heroes-we-need-the-villains-as-well).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Body horror, Rape, Blood, Murder, Sexual violence, Gore, Cursing, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, War, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, and Excrement

Minor: Drug use

nate_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A truly brilliant story! The world-building of an alternative African magical reality is absolutely incredible. I will need to give this another listen, though it is so intense and violent I don't know when I'll be up for it. It's almost like the most graphic type of scenes from Law & Order: SVU all put together with terrifying descriptions of witchcraft blended with mysterious powers, destiny, loss, and a pervasive, bitter sense of betrayal.

It was hard to follow at times but well worth the effort and time. It's a long book but so exquisitely told!

The author does not shy away from extremely graphic depictions of the acts of his characters, including sexual assault, murder, and war crimes against children. I actually had to set it aside after the first time I tried listening to it until a time when I was more able to handle the violent opening scene and get into the fascinating characters beyond. Maybe next year I'll be up to listen to the sequel! I hope they get the same narrator. He did a phenomenal job! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Rape, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Colonisation, Murder, Cursing, Gore, Trafficking, War, Sexual violence, Child death, Drug use, Sexual content, Classism, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, and Animal death

t_thekla's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

last chapter slapped

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

lotsa bad stuff

cringeisen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexism, Misogyny, Drug use, and Incest

Minor: Slavery and Kidnapping

jessthanthree's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual violence, Murder, Grief, Child death, Child abuse, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Incest, Classism, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Excrement, and Drug use

Minor: War

its_kievan's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

My copy of this book has rave reviews from, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, Lousie Erdrich, and Salman Rushdie, describing it as "gripping", "extraordinary", and "a miracle". I think if they had asked me instead I would have described Black Leopard, Red Wolf as "boring", "shit", and "weirdly obsessed with incest". I might have explained that reading this book was a frustrating slog, that the supposedly artistic prose just made everything impossible to understand, or that between this and Tade Thompson's Rosewater I'm starting to wonder where all this "award-winning African SFF" is getting its awards from. But hey, nobody asked me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Drug use and Alcoholism

f18's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Infidelity, Sexual content, Gore, Cursing, Homophobia, Violence, Child death, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Incest, and Drug use

Minor: Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexism, Cannibalism, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny

misandry fgm/circumcision bestiality

ehmannky's review

Listen, there aren’t a lot of things that truly can put me off a book and I’m not that squeamish with what I read but after

the hyena gang-rape of the protagonist that followed many other instances of sexual assault

I have decided that this book, however wonderfully written it may be, just is not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Drug use, and Drug abuse