Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

11 reviews

casualvamp's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

2.5

Deepti Kapoor is an immensely talented author, and this book is exceptionally well-written. From reading the synopsis, it’s not a book I would typically read, but I thought I would enjoy it much more than I did. It took me a really long time to finish because it's very lengthy and disorganized. The switches between POVs were jarring and got confusing in the second half, which made the storyline hard to follow. I found the vast majority of the characters unbearable (except for Ajay), so it was hard to be invested in the story. Ajay's POV had me absolutely enthralled, but once it switched over to Neda's and Sunny's POV, I was barely trudging through it. I almost had to put this book down several times due to its incredibly dark themes and GRAPHIC depictions of violence, which made me genuinely naseous. I felt that for the majority of the book, I was either almost asleep out of sheer boredom or incredibly disturbed by all of the unnecessary violence.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Blood, Addiction, Miscarriage, Violence, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Suicide, Animal death, Self harm, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Murder, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent

ttatt's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Violence

mac23's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual violence, Self harm, Sexism, Murder, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Rape, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

bigbizliz1991's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Slavery

litletters's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Classism, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Car accident, and Sexual content

grantsharpies's review

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

torturedreadersdept's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Addiction, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Cursing, Violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion, Suicide, and Pregnancy

juliatfowler's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

There is a lot of gratuitous violence in this book. Good to read own voices but this book was too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Torture, Rape, Murder, Abortion, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Self harm, Gore, and Trafficking

dougyounkin's review against another edition

dark sad

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Gun violence, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, Drug use, and Physical abuse

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

A Mercedes runs over five people on the streets of New Delhi, setting in motion an epic family saga involving three characters from very different backgrounds and families.

Everyone in the world seems to be reading this book recently, and it’s easy to see why—it’s unique and captivating, with beautifully written prose and insightful commentary on class and colonialism. And as literary fiction and a family saga but with a crime fiction edge, Age of Vice has something to offer fans of many different genres.

Still, while I absolutely understand the appeal, I also felt that the book was a bit over-long: it’s nearly 600 pages, but most of that is dedicated to providing a level of deep background into the characters that I didn’t always find necessary. The story is clearly meant to be a slow burn, but I occasionally found it a bit *too* slow, and wanted more plot and action, especially after such an explosive beginning.

All of that said, this book has a lot of positives that outweigh the negatives. The writing is incredibly cinematic and I know that it will make for an incredible miniseries or movie (rights were sold in a bidding war years before publication!) And, the payoff of the ending was big enough that I’ll definitely pick up the second book in the planned trilogy when it releases.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: epic family sagas; The Godfather but set in India; cinematic novels

CW: Sexual assault/rape; child abuse; murder/death/death of parent; drug abuse/use; torture; classism; violence generally

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Death, Drug use, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, and Confinement