Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji

20 reviews

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

mold_munchr's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Bullying, Drug use, Rape, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, Racism, Abortion, Eating disorder, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Minor: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Vomit

abbie_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

A solid and very bleak interlinked short story collection. More a novel in vignettes than a collection, which means it jumps around in time a bit in a way that’s sometimes difficult to keep track of via audio. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

been wanting to read this for a while, and shut up, you're pretty def didnt disappoint.

the series of interlinked stories were wholly unpredictable; one doesnt know how the story would go, what the crux of it is, or how the next one would be like after the previous one's unanticipated ending, and i relished that. 

characters aside from loli come and go, each weaving in and out - a lil incorporeal - thru the whole text, so it was difficult to learn more abt many of them, but what one does learn is fine enough, sometimes w/ a certain scene or sentence shedding enough light on a character. 

the content's quite dark w/ many tws - drug abuse and sexual content for instance - but i enjoyed this collection nevertheless and hope to read more from mutonji in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Rape, and Racism

Minor: Addiction and Suicide

shaziareads's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion

idoballet's review

medium-paced

5.0

This book is so beautifully written, I am incredibly happy I picked it up and I believe that everyone should read it. I can't describe how good Téa's writing is.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Abortion, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, and Mental illness

readsandrants's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

"But you go through life being touched, you go through life being looked at, you go through life with an uncle commenting on your breasts, or your brother’s friend giving you a condom for your birthday then denying it, you go through life being called a cunt on public transportation, you go through life being followed at midnight, you go through life being told you’re pretty, you’re pretty, you’re so fucking pretty—it gets complicated."

This book was incredibly addictive and hard to put down, but once it was put down I was always repulsed by the idea of picking it back up. 
This feels less like a collection of short stories and more like one story told as the narrator grows form the age 11-ish to somewhere in her late 20’s or older. 
This was less of a ‘this book is so sad I’m sobbing’ and more of a ‘I’m laying on the floor staring at my ceiling feeling like the world is as small as my room.’ 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Abortion