Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

23 reviews

artemismoon057's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Xenophobia

mamagriff's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad medium-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? No

5.0

A powerful historical fiction novel about life, religion & political divisions in Tehran from 1950s through 2022. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Alcohol

courtney_scott1025's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A little more lighthearted than I typically like to read, but a beautiful book nonetheless. What an inspiring story and it gave me a lot of insight on Iranian politics that I didn’t know much about. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Xenophobia

louiepotterbook's review

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.5

The writing in the book was so beautiful. The author has a real talent for vividly describing food, locations, and people in a way that just brought the story to life. I know basically nothing about Iranian culture and history so it was really educational and I looked up several things that were mentioned. I didn’t love the ending, Bahar’s chapter in particular didn’t elevate anything for me and I wish that would have been done differently. Besides that the story exceeded my expectations. It didn’t hide any of the faults that come with being a real person and what that looks like when having a long term friendship. It was an honest look into these women’s lives, both the ups and downs. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and War

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Marjan Kamali has done it yet again. this author can create such real characters that you love and feel frustration towards at different points in the book. this author can make me cry like almost no other.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readalongwithyasmin's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Violence, and Gaslighting

ashleyjean6's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Very good book, but as I anticipated, a difficult read. I loved the writing and character development, the vivid descriptions of food and clothes and setting. It's incredible to read about Iran before the revolutions and to know they're still being controlled by extremists today. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

torturedreadersdept's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sarah_reading_party's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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

I absolutely adored the newest book by Marjan Kamali, The Lion Women of Tehran. This book follows the lives of two women, Ellie and Homa, who grow up as little girls in Tehran, Iran. The book shares their lives from childhood to adulthood, and though the girls' relationship is not strong at all times due to truly painful circumstances alongside difficult bits of Iranian history, they are loyal to each other. This book is a beautiful story of friendship, love, family, and survival... and how to cope through tragedy and pain. As children, both girls have to cope with the loss of at least one parent due to political issues, death, or family dynamics and that really unites them. 

I really liked how the book was written - some chapters focused on Ellie, others on Homa, and the time periods changed from the 1950s to the 1980s and into the present day. The girls' story of friendship is sad, but also hopeful - they are estranged for many years and each deal with guilt and shame for their actions/inactions due to those circumstances. This book is hopeful, yet also painful and raw at times. The ending was a little too sweet at times but overall, this was a wonderful book!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, and War