Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

18 reviews

ibadella's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

i read a few chapters of Barracoon during my anthropology degree, and have found the revisit incredibly enriching

the combination of Kossola’s brilliant storytelling and Hurston’s compassionate approach to interviewing makes this brief read so very rich. Hurston’s ethnographic approach is thoughtful, innovative, and personal, contrasting to the salvage anthropology practiced by her contemporaries through her consideration for Kossola’s and the residents of Africatown’s wellbeing and privacy. She situates herself within the tale as an active but nonjudgemental participant, transparently admitting her personal interests, questions, and impressions. the whole book is heartily framed by essay additions which contextualize and offer discussion of the layers of understanding presented in this single story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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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. 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Racism and Colonisation

sparklycowboy's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator and author really bring Kossula to life with the language and storytelling. I’m grateful this book was published in 2018 after many decades of sitting unpublished. I was confused about the ~40 min intro about the author, but it made more sense after finishing the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Violence, War, and Murder

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.

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Slavery

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

velvetcelestial's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Racism

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective

4.0

Zero sugarcoating history, just the way I like it. ZNH's conversation with Kossolo is set in a way that lets him tell his story in all its entirety, dialect and all. The narration for the audiobook felt like I was talking to him directly. It was rough to get through a lot of parts because of the themes but that is the nature of the entire story. Discomfort ought to be expected, and it is important for readers to deal with the discomfort. A definite recommend for anyone looking to pick up an important non-fiction for Black History Month.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Child death, Violence, and Grief

tinyflame4's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Violence, Colonisation, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping, Animal death, and Racism

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Child death, Genocide, Murder, Slavery, Racism, Police brutality, Confinement, and Grief