Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee

10 reviews

juliaxgulia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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decie's review against another edition

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4.75

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_nellie_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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

5.0

Stunning novel. Painful and confronting as its heavy with traumatic experiences, but heartbreakingly beautiful too. Important read as well. Complex and layered, touching on so many challenging topics.

I don't know if I've ever read a novel with a main character who felt so real before. Ranita doesn't feel like a fictional character that represents a group of people, she feels real. 
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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

Overall, I liked the story that was told, it was really interesting to learn about ranita and her life up until the point. I did think that the 'big reveal' was underwhelming or we were missing it
her dancing in the garden, during the rain, in the middle of the night? What was the big deal? I felt like we were missing a scene there


Sometimes the writing was a bit much, hard to get through, being overly descriptive/wordy, but then it went away
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juls0899's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book filled me up, heart and mind. Absolutely beautiful. 
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liseyreads_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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harperphillips96's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This was such a beautiful and hopeful book, although obviously if you check out the content warnings there is a lot of heavy shit in it. I was interested in the question of whether this book is heavily focused on the flaws of the main character, and I really don’t think it is, though of course the section before she’s incarcerated feature a lot of destructive choices. Mostly, it’s a deeply forgiving book about someone doing her best to be better, and being loved as she tries, and it really touched me. 
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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 Pomegranate is a stunning jewel of a book. It’s the story of Ranita Atwater, newly released from a four year stint in the Oak Hills Correctional Centre for opiate possession. She needs to stay clean, find somewhere to live, find a job and rebuild her relationship with her kids before she has any hope of achieving her goal of regaining custody of them. Plus she has to come to terms with issues from her past as well as her new identity as a queer woman - all without the support of her partner who is still incarcerated. I loved the structure of this book with Ranita telling her present day story in the first person, while events from her childhood up to her incarceration are told in the third person. A really clever way of showing how Ranita still needed to come to terms with her past. The book did an excellent job of highlighting the barriers women, particularly if they are Black and/or queer, face in trying to reintegrate into society after a period of incarceration, of trying to stay clean and trying to reunite their families. The system which should be helping them provides more in the way of obstacles than assistance, and appears to be looking for any reason to fail women and separate them permanently from their children. It seeks unrealistic constant linear progress and has little tolerance for even minor setbacks or regressions. I was really rooting for Ranita and so many times I was worried that her own actions or those of others, were going to cause her to lose her kids. In many ways this was a heavy read and Ranita suffered more than her share of trauma. But there was also joy, hope and love - the support she had from her aunts, the relationship she had with her father, the strength she eventually found via therapy, the support of one of her case workers, her love for her son and daughter.

Ranita is a character I really rooted for. I admired her determination, resilience and perseverance, was cheering for every success and biting my nails and every setback, real or potential. I found Pomegranate a really well-told story that highlights important social issues and deserves a wide readership. 
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tianas_littalk's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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schnurln's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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