Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A History of Burning by Janika Oza

8 reviews

speedeephoebee's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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: Racism, Xenophobia, War, and Sexual violence

onmalsshelf's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Colonisation, Deportation, Grief, Racial slurs, Violence, and Xenophobia

lorenag5's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, Police brutality, Classism, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and War

alisha94's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, War, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Deportation, Death, Colonisation, Sexual violence, and Racism

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

 If you are like me and enjoy a good multigenerational family saga, especially one involving a secret or two, told from multiple perspectives, that takes you to different parts of the globe and highlights aspects of history that are perhaps less well known - at least to many in the West - then I recommend you pick up A History of Burning. It opens with 13 year old Pirbhai, desperate for work to help feed his family, being tricked into signing up to lay railways for the British in Kenya. He eventually marries and the family move to Uganda and slowly achieve a middle class existence until Idi Amin forces all Asians out of the country. The chaos of this era is well-depicted. The family is fractured and most end up in Toronto, which is where a secret from the past finds them a threatens to further divide them. The writing was strong, there were plenty of interesting characters - most especially Latika and her sisters - to hold my interest, while the themes - family, the desire for belonging, racism and impacts of colonisation - fall firmly in my preferred wheelhouse. A really enjoyable read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

internationalreads's review

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Hate crime, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia

bookreviewswithkb's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

this novel has buried itself deeply into my heart, it settled there, rooting in me, making way for the stories that need to be told, the characters that need to be seen. i loved the way the author told this story - giving us generations of family members to view history through, giving us a way to understand how our family’s roots live through us. how undoubtedly we can always make a home with the people we love, no matter the physical boundaries we are within  

a history of burning, of all the ways that fire kept this family unsettled but also made way for something new 

thank you so much to @grandcentral for the ARC! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

hannia222's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Classism, Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, and Deportation