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desidala's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
erenreads12's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-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? Yes
4.5
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does not disappoint with this book. The high expectations I had for this after reading Americanah were well and truly met. What started off as a gentle, intimate account of life in 60s Nigeria became a horrifying, tragic, brutal portrayal of the civil war, inspecting closely the ways we carry war inside of us when it is happening around us. The ending, through lacking the closure one would normally expect from a novel, drove home the very point - there is no closure in war, or happy endings. I deducted .5 of a star simply because I saw some of the betrayal plotinus coming - but it was nowhere near enough to ruin the experience. This is a hugely important and heartbreaking book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Rape, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Pedophilia
fikomiana's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
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
4.5
+ : One of my first reads of this year, and one of my first reads in a while as well. I read the novel in small parts, over a few months but it didn't make my reading less interesting. This is a novel that's rich in themes that interest me and that I think about a lot : familial bonds, heritage, the idea of politics versus reality, treason/betrayal, history and what it does to us (as Zadie Smith would say) and overall how overarching "big" moments interact with day-to-day lives. All the characters are really believable and we feel for them even in the moments when they do awful things. I thought about this book a lot since finishing it and it will definitely be one that I will re-read at some point. + the language is gorgeous, Adichie never fails to impress
- : Literally couldn't find any but I don't know why this doesn't feel like an instant favorite, even though it could become one within a few months or years. Maybe a minor minor minor detail would be that it can dwell on details, but even that I feel has a purpose within the story.
- : Literally couldn't find any but I don't know why this doesn't feel like an instant favorite, even though it could become one within a few months or years. Maybe a minor minor minor detail would be that it can dwell on details, but even that I feel has a purpose within the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
The book explicits a violent sexual assault during the war period.kylieqrada's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.5
Note: I had the displeasure of finding out about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's particular brand of trans-exclusionary feminism shortly after finishing this book. With that in mind, I will not be supporting her work in the future. Trans women are women.
4.5 ⭐s. I can definitely see why this is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award-winning-est (is that a word?) work. Not only did I enjoy this immensely just from a writing perspective - the characters, plot, world-building, symbolism, narrative devices, all flawless - I also learned so much about an aspect of history that I was relatively clueless about up until this reading. This book is unflinching, and subsequently has trigger warnings for just about every trigger on the books, but it is a very impactful, emotional, and educational read.
4.5 ⭐s. I can definitely see why this is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award-winning-est (is that a word?) work. Not only did I enjoy this immensely just from a writing perspective - the characters, plot, world-building, symbolism, narrative devices, all flawless - I also learned so much about an aspect of history that I was relatively clueless about up until this reading. This book is unflinching, and subsequently has trigger warnings for just about every trigger on the books, but it is a very impactful, emotional, and educational read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
helenar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I found this to be a difficult read emotionally and ended up reading it in small amounts interspersed with much gentler books. The author describes the realities of the Biafran war and the deep suffering of the main characters, who are by no means flawless, and those around them, left me reeling. I knew very little of the events in Nigeria at a time in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s just before I was born and so I did some factual research but nowhere I looked came close to the way the author portrayed the very complicated nature of this war and the human or seemingly inhuman acts that took place and the affects and scars that they leave.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
kathryngrimwade's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was a great insight into the Nigeria-Biafran war. I loved how the story was told from muliple points of view and how it explored the way the different characters think, feel and react to the world around them and how they interact with each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
sophieduncan's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Gun violence
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