Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

17 reviews

zophiebrown's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

Excellently written, with a dark story told through intertwining narratives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Classism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abortion

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Sounded like it should’ve been a really good book. In reality, there were parts that were good, but most of it was disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, Bullying, Trafficking, Rape, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Abortion, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Stalking, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Car accident, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, and Violence

editorsansserif's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Kidnapping, Drug use, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Blood, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Rape, and Colonisation

Minor: Torture, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Confinement, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Trafficking

ukponge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Mental illness, Confinement, Abortion, Suicide, and Rape

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

meaghanslibrary's review

challenging tense slow-paced

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

1.75

This book started out alright with Ajay’s point of view. It was interesting to enter that world. But the second or third parts of the book were different points of view that I didn’t care for, I think it might be because the characters didn’t have redeeming qualities. 

It really felt the author was trying to do too much. Especially with trying to change the writing styles to poems when Sunny is being beaten up.

I did not get the ending at all, I was hoping it would redeem reading this long book, but it fell very flat.

I think maybe this book was more written like it was ready to be a screenplay for a movie because some parts felt so choppy. 

I feel like the book could have been good and had such good reviews but I’m very disappointed because it was so long and I just don’t get what the purpose of the book was at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, and Classism

alittlebitnish's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

1.5

At the start this book was engaging. Elements of Ajay’s story and character have quite a journey. It’s quite sad but also laced in reality of society when the powerful control everything. 
I also loved the description of the beaches of Goa. this is mainly bc i’m natively from goa so seeing canacona mentioned was nice. 

But that’s where what i liked ends. 

Did not care for Neda, she screamed pick-me and just lacked anything that would show her own personality. Also, the fact that this book is written by a women and she was the only female character (a terrible one at that) is so disappointing. 

Sunny is an overgrown man-child who has convinced himself of his ideas of grandeur when he does nothing. He can claim it’s because of his father and all other complications but it’s just him. Atleast dinesh had more of a character and will than sunny despite coming from similar backgrounds and families. 

Scenes from the jail were traumatizing to say the least. The dehumanization of Prem and the descriptiveness of it was so unnecessary. At no point did it add to the story in a sense where it all ties together. 

idk why in the last 20% of the book a new character is introduced and we are given his entire story. But, nothing actually connects to the 80% of the previous part. 

The ending made no sense to me. Ambiguous endings can be great if done well but this was just not it. Felt like the book was dark for the sake of it. Just not for me at all. Took me too long to finish because just did not engage me, it felt like a chore at times to get through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Rape, Classism, and Homophobia

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

morethanmylupus's review

adventurous dark 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

4.0

I waited a few days to process before I could write a review on this one. I read it all in one day and I couldn't put it down, so yes I'd say it's compelling. I wouldn't, however, say it's an easy read. I struggled with so much of the story. If you're not familiar with the culture or language of Northern India, you may want to keep a phone or laptop nearby to look up slang and such. Despite the length of this book, there were some characters that needed much more detailed backstories because their intentions were so vague. I'm hoping for a sequel that provides this. Please check trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, and Classism

eringl's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, Drug use, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Car accident, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Addiction

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Abortion