Because Texas is currently thinking about changing the history books to lies, I'm going to keep this in case, like Germany, we decide to gloss over (even more) what slavery was about. This book was so graphic I was disturbed and nauseated, but I feel like these things, and more, happened at some point during the time of slavery. The same parts that are utterly horrific are the parts that make this book so good.
The main character is whipped until he is almost dead. This included explaining that his skin was ripped away from his back so deeply as to damage his kidney.
The most disturbing scene for me: Another character, has his lips, genitals, hands, and eyes removed, or chopped off and pulled out, then the wounds cauterized. He is punished for sleeping with a white woman, a woman who forced him and a few other of the men to sleep with her, he was the only unlucky one that got caught. This is described in screams, conversations, sounds, and the vomiting of those assisting. The man then has the tendons on the back of his knees cut and he is on display on the ground until he dies, for men women and small children to see.