Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo

6 reviews

ruthmoog's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

4.75

Barrington is flawed - the way he talks about his wife and women in his life is nasty - but he is nonetheless likeable, charismatic, funny!

I laughed aloud at this, Barrington speaks as you might to a friend. And it's emotionally intimate as Barrington lets us in on his big secrets.

I enjoyed it a lot, and the narration is great. Looking forward to the TV series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Violence, Outing, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Drug use

Knife violence

squeakfan's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.25

Just delightful

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Violence, and Racism

lynxpardinus's review

emotional funny reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexism, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Classism, Lesbophobia, Slavery, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Colonisation, Violence, Suicide attempt, Outing, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Minor: War, Fatphobia, Excrement, Ableism, Gun violence, Dementia, Vomit, and Transphobia

junglejelly's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, the writing is gripping, engaging and beautiful. On the other hand, the characters are quite unlikeable, almost to the point I stopped reading.

One thing for sure is these characters are complex and their actions and thoughts are incredibly relatable.

The downsides of the book is that it's filled with a lot of phobic language (which I understand why), unlikeable characters and the ending could have been a bit longer. The ending felt a bit rushed and cliche as the characters did not reflect on their own flaws and still had

happy endings, except maybe Barry

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Eating disorder, and Rape

charliebnl's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-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

4.75

This charming book is told from the perspective of the opinionated, dapper Barrington Jedidiah Walker loving known as Barry. Barry is a Caribbean man living in the UK. He is married with two daughters and has built up a wonderful life for himself. Except that his long-term lover may leave him if he doesn’t find the courage to leave his wife and be true to himself. 

 

I love Bernadine’s writing and honestly, I am ashamed to say I’ve only read two of her books now. I had to check if she was from the Caribbean because she did such a stellar job of representing a Caribbean British man and as charming as Barry can be, he can also be as annoying, frustrating, and hurtful to the ones he loves. 

 

However, as we follow his journey of working out how to come openly into his sexual orientation in his 70s, we explore the many dangers that still face the LGBTQ+ community both in the early ‘60s as well as in the present day. 

 

One thing that really stood out for me, is that I probably listen to a lot of homophobic dancehall music without me knowing it. It also made me question, why people need to make so much content about someone else’s orientation. Barry grows on you at times, but also you do hope that he gets some karma for the chaos that he has created in other people’s lives, in particular his wife’s and his lover’s.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Violence

sapphire's review

funny hopeful relaxing fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Infertility and Violence