Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji

16 reviews

spookylilbean's review

emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

I really loved how poetic the book feels. Very clear the author is a poet. The book has a rhythm that pulls you in. Lots of lines I related to. A few parts that I can only try to relate to. I enjoyed this easy read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual content, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Mental illness

jegan4's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, and Sexual harassment

lilhill's review

The writing felt too neurotypical for me, it seemed like there was a lot of subtext I wasn't understanding. It's something I encounter from time to time, but with this book I felt confused the whole time.
The other thing that caused me to lose interest was how much focus was placed on the white girls in Loli's life. I think the point was that she was preoccupied with them to the point of losing herself, but for me as the reader I wasn't interested in reading about the multiple white friends.
I also felt uncomfortable reading about such explicit sex between literal children, especially since there was often adults of unspecified ages involved. 
The things I enjoyed about this book were that it felt very real, I kept having to remind myself it was short stories and not a memoir. And the bits about the community of Galloway were very moving.
All in all, this book wasn't for me and I feel readers should proceed with caution because it is a very heavy and disturbing read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Toxic friendship

eap5790's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

preezilla's review

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Incest, Drug use, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

unphilosophize's review

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

This book was just not for me. 
I don’t normally do trigger warnings but I have for this one. 
I’d be interested in reading from this author again because I really loved the writing style, I just really struggled with the plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abortion, Addiction, and Rape

lizard800's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Really sad book. Not a traditional short story collection; they're vignettes of the narrator's life, some of which obviously fit together and some of which don't as much. I was hoping for a bit more from the ending. I enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook, especially because they used different inflections for different characters. Overall, would highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Racism, Rape, Classism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

kelly_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

Title: Shut Up You're Pretty
Author: Téa Mutonji
Genre: Short Stories
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: April 1, 2019

T H R E E • W O R D S

Beautiful • Tragic • Raw

📖 S Y N O P S I S

A woman contemplates her Congolese traditions during a family wedding, a teenage girl looks for happiness inside a pack of cigarettes, a mother reconnects with her daughter through their shared interest in fish, and a young woman decides on shaving her head in the waiting room of an abortion clinic.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Shut Up You're Pretty came to me via the 2024 Canada Reads shortlist and at first I was incredibly resistant. What a wild ride! This is the type of book that offers the gentle reminder of why diverse voices are absolutely necessary.

This was one of those books that I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. Written as a collection of interconnected stories it tackles difficult themes including, pain, poverty, identity, sexuality, tense familial relationships, abuse, teenage pregnancy, and in a bigger sense womanhood. It packs a punch with vivid imagery and explicit content.

While I didn't love the story itself, I did fall absolutely in love with Téa Mutonji's writing. It's just incredible! I could feel her passion leaping off the page, and at times it read so much like narrative non-fiction I kept having to remind myself it was fiction and that it was a debut. There is no doubt in my mind this is the first of many works from this gifted Canadian writer.

In my opinion, I think it would have worked better as a complete story. At the end of each story I was left wanting more, and on the bigger picture there is no real resolution at the end. I left Loli not knowing what would become of her and that was unfortunate after becoming so invested in her story and watching her make bad decision after bad decision.

Shut Up You're Pretty is one of those books the left me feeling uncomfortable and that is exactly why it is necessary. It was flawlessly and beautifully defended by Kudakwashe Rutendo on Canada Reads. Her passion and arguments as to why this should be the one book all of Canada should read was evident and it made me reconsider my original perspective and thoughts. I most likely wouldn't have picked up this book on my own, so I am grateful to Canada Reads for including in on this year's shortlist and challenging me.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• coming-of-age stories
• short stories
• Canadian literature

⚠️ CW: racism, toxic relationship, adult/minor relationship, pedophilia, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, emotional abuse, child abuse, mental illness, depression, eating disorder, drug use, drug abuse, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, suicide, poverty, sexual content, cursing, death, death of parent, grief, abortion

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Her sadness was overwhelming. Her sadness was an illusion. She'd pretend to be fine but then wash the same dish for twenty minutes." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Death, Death of parent, and Abortion

depression, poverty

raspberryreads0's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Drug abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

christinesmith205's review

challenging emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Abortion