Racism – Page 85 – Trigger Warning Database

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism, racism, sexism & slut-shaming
Homophobia & coming out themes
Dubious consent scenarios involving minors discussed, including mentions of nonconsensual voyeurism*
Parental abandonment recounted
Infidelity, recounted & discussed
Alcoholism mentioned
Bipolar Disorder
Suicide & attempted suicide and self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse and recreational drug use
Death from anaphylaxis
Cancer mentioned and heart attack
Hospitalisation
Death of a classmate (on-page)
Death of an uncle mentioned
Death of a mother recounted
Murder & attempted murder
School shooting & gun violence discussed
Strangulation
Physical assault
Car accident recounted
Blackmail
Bullying

*Context: Characters under the influence of alcohol recount having sex, and a protagonist recounts coerced ‘consent’ to sex with her boyfriend.

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Racism & colourism
Gang rape
Sexual assault
Forced marriage
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Sterilization
Medical experimentation
Dead bodies
Decapitation and dismemberment
Graphic murder & mass murder
Torture
Explosions
Knife violence
Physical assault
Captivity & confinement
War themes & military violence
Fire
Flooding
Bullying

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

A quintessential novel of America & the Beat Generation On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac’s years traveling the N. American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, “a sideburned hero of the snowy West.” As “Sal Paradise” & “Dean Moriarty,” the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge & experience…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Racism & racial slurs
Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Misogyny
Paedophilia*
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Recreational drug use & abuse
Pregnancy
Murder mentioned

* Note : The protagonist is attracted to a sex worker who he believes is sixteen-years-old.

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

England, 1930s. Christopher Banks has become the country’s most celebrated detective, his cases the talk of London society. Yet one unsolved crime has always haunted him; the mysterious disappearance of his parents, in Old Shanghai, when he was a small boy. Now, as the world lurches towards total war, Banks realises the time has come for him to return to the city of his childhood and at last solve the mystery – that only by his doing so will civilisation be saved from the approaching catastrophe.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Attempted suicide
Drug abuse

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Days before his release from prison, Shadow’s wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Sex work
Cheating
Suicidal ideation
Murder
Imprisonment

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slavery mentioned
Racism & racial slurs
Antiziganism
Victim blaming
Slut shaming
Domestic abuse
Child neglect
Suicide mentioned
Murder
Animal death

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fantastical racism and racial slurs
Slavery
Child rape implied
Forced sexual relationships attempting pregnancy
Physical and emotional abuse of a child
Death of children
Death of a partner, on-page
Kidnapping
Captivity
Genocide recounted

The Revenant by Michael Punke

The Revenant by Michael Punke

The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke

Rocky Mountains, 1823. The trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is one of the most respected men in the company, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker.But when a scouting mission puts Glass face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two men from the company are ordered to remain with him until his inevitable death. But, fearing an imminent attack, they abandon Glass, stripping him of his prized rifle and hatchet.

As Glass watches the men flee, he is driven to survive by one all-consuming desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, he sets out on a three-thousand-mile journey across the harsh American frontier, to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him.

The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny and sexism
Racism and racial slurs
Sex worker shaming and slurs
Abuse, neglect and abandonment
Alcohol consumption
Blood and gore depiction
Body horror
Dead bodies and body parts
Decapitation
Physical injury and wounds
Medical treatment, including surgery
Death of a friend
Murder
Knife violence
Gun violence
Scars
Imprisonment and captivity
Starvation and dehydration depiction
Blizzard
Animal death
Hunting
Colonialism themes

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Transmisia
Deadnaming
Racism
Parental physical abuse
War themes

Oasis by Katya de Becerra

Oasis by Katya de Becerra

The oasis saved them. But who will save them from the oasis?

Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father’s archaeological dig site in the desert with four close friends . . . and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit.

With their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed . . . until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what’s real and what’s a mirage… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism mentioned
Smoking
Dehydration
Blood & physical injuries
Medical treatment & procedures
Seizures mentioned
Hospitalisation
Death from impalement
Bullying mentioned