Reviews tagging 'Gore'

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

58 reviews

thebookfetishist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Absolutely wow. A novel that is desperately needed in today's time. It perfectly shows the human and emotional side of the nameless Syrian faces you often get shown in media outlets. It is an absolute must read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense slow-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

4.0

this book was brilliant - for a couple of reasons.

but i want to get into what i didn't enjoy first, to get it out of the way.
the book was really slow, bordering on boring, especially around the middle part. it felt like i was stuck at fifty percent for an eternity. i never once thought about dnf'ing it, because it was still interesting to read, but the longevity of it just put me off.
i also think you could just really feel that this was a young adult book. the romance was quite romantic, but somtimes so cheesy with the characters always calling each other by their names and saying 'romantic' lines that one could as well find on a teenager's instagram page.

now don't get me wrong, the romance wasn't bad, not at all! quite the opposite, actually. the ghibli references (esp. sheeta and pazu) were really adorable, but you know. cheesy.
i generally enjoyed the characters though and thought they were rather relatable. their dreams felt very real and i liked the diversity of them. i've never read anything about someone wanting to become an animator until now. their might life also left me feel very giddy and it made me root for them a lot, since they're both just such good (not flawless though, which was nice) people.
another thing i really enjoyed was the occasional banter, and khawf, whose sarcastic and sometimes 'funny' personality i liked.

but the romance and all that wasn't the point of the book.
the point was to educate people on what's happening in syria, because as the author states in the author's note, she noticed that very little people actually know what's going on. i think she did a great job combining awareness and information with great storytelling and a sweet romance.

the things that happened in this book were horrible, frightening, traumatic, because they are. this is not a product of the author's imagination. all the characters in the book are real. this is happening. it's not fiction, and katouh tries to convey exactly that.

i learned a lot through this book - about syria, and syrian culture specifically - and this review cannot capture how much impact this book had on me.

i recommend as long as the lemon trees grow to everyone, but especially to those who
... like me, didn't know a lot about syria,
... and to all of those in any situation who need something, a shimmer of hope, to cling to right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore and Vomit

kait_sixcrowsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-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

2.5

I feel so so conflicted about this rating and how I feel about this book in general…on the one hand, the premise, the idea, is there. However, the execution? Not so much… I found the characters to be lacking — while I felt for Salama and Kenan, I didn’t really feel like they were fleshed out very well. I felt like they were just there to prove a point of the story and not much else. I thought Khawf as an idea was really interesting, and I liked how, at the end of the day, he wasn’t the antagonist but instead only wanted what was best for Salama.

But overall, I felt that this really should’ve been edited down, at least in some ways. The repetition — not simply with the action of Salama going to the hospital and coming back for three weeks but the repetition of words and phrases — got to be real old real quick. The amount of times Salama said some variation of “I’m not a surgeon, I’m a pharmacist” in the beginning made my brain numb. And the dialogue at points just seemed stilted and, at times, repeatable. I dunno, there were just a lot of parts of this story that didn’t click together for me, which is a shame because it had potential.

Yeah, I dunno, I just fairly quickly caught myself skimming and wishing it was more than it was. Which stinks, since I seem to be in the vast minority.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit

ajf1774's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5/5 if you want a book to break your heart and then put it back together, this is it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

This fascinating story is about a young woman trying to survive in Syria.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ddnreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Bury me before I bury you.

I'm still incapable of forming the words that captivate my feelings perfectly after reading this book. I don't think my review would ever do the book justice. This is easily the best written story I read this year 😭🍋💛

When I go to heaven, I'll tell God everything.

A book about striving, surviving, loving, and sacrificing. A book about humanity with all its fractured souls and bones. Woven from the bloody Syrian soil, it captured sharply the trauma felt by the innocences, hospital buzzing with new victims everyday, and the inevitable choice between helping or leaving. Staying or trying to be alive.

In a historic city plagued by bombs, life has persisted.

Told through the eyes of a 18yo girl named Salama, the story evolved itself into her daily routine as a pharmacy student turned doctor. Her coping mechanism of losing. Her hallucinations. It was so often torn my heart in pieces. Admist all those, sassy jokes were thrown, an angel disguised doctor, and found a love meant to be. A possibility of new life. And it was blend perfectly.

There are enough people hurting you. Don't be one of them.

Lots of Ghibli references that I don't mind at all. A cute banter. An understanding heart. Halal romance at its best. Siblings love so strong it hurts.

This is a book of hope. It ripped my heart appart and stich it back together. I don't know what else to say than do yourself a favour and read this masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

kaseybereading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and War

faduma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail