Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

22 reviews

lazy_raven's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

I like that they kept the way he spoke original rather than whitewashing it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Slavery, War, Child death, Death of parent, and Gore

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, War, Slavery, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, and Blood

capp518's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

3.75

Couldn’t give it 4 stars because only half of the book is Kossula’s story. It reads more like a piece of scholarly work than a novel, which may be my own fault for not researching the book better before reading. Overall though, this is a necessary read to get a first-had account of what enslaved people experienced because there are so few records from their perspectives out there. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Racism and Colonisation

labricoleuse's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This is a fascinating piece of ethnographic history. I’m glad I listened to the audiobook because I get why it is important to write an oral history in the dialect as spoken but I think it would have been difficult to understand. Hearing it was clearer I think. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Racism

tey_lynn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Child death, Gore, Death, War, Murder, Kidnapping, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia

slefebvre95's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Slavery

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Upgrading to a five. The book itself wasn’t especially compelling, but I could feel it changing me on some celular level to read it. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else.

The depth of his loneliness almost broke me, but it took me some time to get there. He’s so matter of fact in his telling, but then again, I wish I could’ve heard his actual voice. That would’ve made a huge difference in how I imbibed this book.

My only fear from this experience is that there will be others out there who read it and walk away thinking and saying, pointing to his words, that not all slave masters were horrible people. That is a lie I’d hate to see perpetuated, because no matter how kind they might’ve been, they still only had slaves because they lacked respect for the dignity of these African lives and refused them any agency.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Slavery, Body horror, Death, and Gun violence

zoenelson's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Zora Neale Hurston provides us with an account of one of the last slaves brought to the United States through a participant-observer methodology. She provides Cujo's story through his own narrative. 

As readers, we confront uncomfortable truths about U.S. history and are forced to dismantle the falsehoods we've been deceived into believing. In my mind, Cudjo's story puts words and history to the collective trauma of millions of Africans forced into slavery in the U.S.

Besides Cudjo's words, I loved the editor's notes. She provided important context and a wealth of original thought to this story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Violence, and Racism

hillysreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, and Death

og_tomatogirl's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Slavery

Moderate: Child death