Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

16 reviews

katewhite77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

A Very Atmospheric Novel 

A novel about what can happen when two families of different class strata become dangerously emeshed.

Set in 1940’s Trinidad at the beginning of colonial rule. The Saroops are dirt poor and live communally in a shed known as a Barrak, with flimsy partitions separating each family.
A lot of the men from the Barrak work for the Changoors, the rich couple who live in a mansion up on  the hill.

When Mrs Changoor's husband goes missing, she  soon starts to manipulate the situation to her own advantage.

This was an interesting novel to read as it was set in a time and place a knew little about, and I learnt a lot. It explores class religion and power in a new, to me way. To say I enjoyed it would be the wrong word to  use, as it is very dark, but I am very glad to have read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Death, Pregnancy, and Violence

yali_g's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

nokvi's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

What a book, what a piece of work, Jared is truly a master with his pen. I'm not going to lie when I started this book it took me some time to get into it. I don't know if this is due to the book itself or the fact that I heading into a reading slump when I started, either way I had to put it down for some time. IN retrospect however, I firmly believe it's a mix of the two. The pacing can be quite off and to be honest sometimes it just jumped to places. ANd it's this that lead to a lower rating

but when I came back.... WHEN I CAME BACK, the last 50% of this book is phenomenal, the consequences of actions, the fragility of the human experience. Hosein masterfully covers, coming of age, pverty, racism, classism all within the context of the Indo-Trinidadian experience. The high that I felt as I finished this book is wow, it's a sad depressing ending with a consequence that could have completely been avoided but isn't that life? Isn't hindsight 20/20. This book was an experience and I would have it no other way
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Pregnancy, Racism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abandonment

arejaytay's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, and Vomit

whoa_is_me's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Death, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, and Blood

theaceofpages's review

challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.5

The writing was beautiful but I struggled to connect with the characters. This could, however, be because of the situation I found myself reading the book in. I might decide to pick it up again in the future to see if being less socially exhausted improves the experience as this isn't an easy book to read (difficult contents and the style, while delightful, might take a little getting used to)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Child death

Minor: Cursing

cfpharmd's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Child death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Excrement, Violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Infidelity

Minor: Gun violence

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A stunning novel! I really loved everything about this, the characters were well-crafted, the setting adding so much to the propulsive plot, and beautifully layered themes. This almost felt like reading a classic tragedy, misunderstandings and fate and family ties clashing into an ending you can see coming, but can never prepare for. It’s a pretty timeless, universal story about privilege and religion and hatred, and the writing is just beautiful to read (if sometimes a little over the top). I will say I felt a bit overwhelmed by the amount of gruesome animal deaths throughout the book, I do think they made sense for the story being told, but if you feel sensitive to that (among other content warnings I’ll include in my review), you might want to skip this one. 
This was kind of unexpected because I read it on a whim without knowing anything about it, but I think this could become a favorite of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Violence, Child death, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity and Rape

melliedm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Excrement, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Classism

patchworkculture's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Death