Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

217 reviews

turidt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Transphobia, Death, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Blood

booksandteatime's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Grief, Incest, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Child death

maggiemicklo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Violence, Incest, and Grief

ilianreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Grief, Outing, Toxic relationship, and Death

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ever since this book came out all I've heard is people wahwahwah about the incest when there is a MUCH LARGER, MORE IMPORTANT THEME AND PLOT POINT to the story. AND!!! Emezi says the two books that inspired this one in the acknowledgements!!! They did the work for you and people still didn't get it!!!! You people make me sick. You lack media literacy, reading comprehension, AND critical thinking skills.

Akwaeke Emezi, the person that you are. You've done it yet again. I can't wait to read all their books. They are truly amazing.

In my notes I put Vivek was her grandma reincarnated. The grandma the baby. This may have been intentional but if it's not I'm saying it as fact!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Blood, Incest, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Colonisation, Dysphoria, Gore, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Sexual content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Rape, Gaslighting, Violence, Outing, Physical abuse, Biphobia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Animal death

Minor: Murder, Confinement, Hate crime, Vomit, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

katreena's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

From the very first page of this book I thought the writing was breathtakingly beautiful. My opinion on this never wavered as the author used such powerful imagery and expression of emotion.. I was very thrown off by the incest and the language around the relationship did not let that dynamic fall to be forgotten.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Incest, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Blood

ljpaatan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Incest, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Wow, just wow 

This book tells the story of a tragedy. The clues in the name, but how did we get here?

Set in Nigeria, it tells the of a family through the eyes of two generations. The story has an interesting structure, and one I can't remember reading before in that we hear from 3 points of view, but  one of these is an omniscient narrator which allows us to zoom in and zoom out  all the time. 

Themes here include how changing social attitudes can manifest within families even in an oppressive society  Gender identity and what children can teach their parents 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Outing, and Transphobia

Minor: Islamophobia

midnightrubies's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Ngl the incest was so messy. Also Osita having to live with the knowledge that Nnandi' s death was an accident is so heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Grief, Incest, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Transphobia

alyssaakdefusco's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.5

I could barely put this book down, but not because I needed to know what happened to Vivek. The portrait of a young, queer Nigerian man and his family was so vivid, generous, and devastating. Walking through their lived experiences and their grief was so raw and beautiful. The timeline jumps and narrator shifts were absolutely seamless. This book flowed in such a poignant way and it will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, and Transphobia