Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo

15 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

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

miri42's review

funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Homophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Cancer, and Sexual content

moniipeters's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

shoshthemost's review

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Incest

laurataylor's review

funny slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Death

novella42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Dementia

masha_and_the_cat's review

hopeful informative 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

If he were a real person, Barry would be absolutely insufferable - a conservative, a landlord, a homophobe and transphobe, someone happy to uphold a harmful status quo as long as they benefit from it. And yet, Ms Evaristo tells his story with such warmth and humour I couldn't help but be drawn into his world and cheer him on his journey towards self-acceptance.
The writing flows like honey, and the complexities of issues from internalised homophobia to post-natal depression are handled with grace and compassion. 
This is also the first book I've ever read with a protagonist from Antigua and Barbuda, and I really appreciated the insight into this rich, vibrant culture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Death, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Hate crime, Child death, Murder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Incest

sakisreads's review

adventurous funny reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. Bernadine Evaristo does not 👏🏼 mess 👏🏼 around 👏🏼 After reading ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ and obsessing over it, I was over the moon when I saw this book in Waterstones! I adore Barry and you can really feel how nuanced and multifaceted he is (in terms of his career, his culture and his sexuality - none of it is black or white and feels three-dimensional)! The end surprised and made me squeal though 🥰

Because although Barry is a dick, I expected her to be a ‘woman of God’ whatever that means and to stay with him for life somehow! I didn’t see this transformation building!

I am recommending this to anyone who will tolerate my squeals about it, it is STUNNING 🏳️‍🌈

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Racism