Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

3 reviews

stindex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Grief, Violence, Sexism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

blessing_aj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

Generally speaking, this novel is about two young men, Ilyas and Hassan, both of whom fought for Germany as members of the Askari under different circumstances and whose lives will come to be connected in the future in unpredictable ways.

However, at its heart lies a broader scope centered around the subject of colonialism of the nations in East Africa with specific focus on the region now known as Tanzania; interrogating how and why it happened and who should take the blame for the events that unfolded as a result.

Abdulrazak is part of the older generation of African writers and his storytelling is very much reminiscent of that fact, but I didn’t mind it at all. As a matter of fact, I dare say I enjoyed it more because of that, since like his peers, he writes what he likes without the veil of political correctness that some contemporary African writers struggle with.

I really liked how well crafted the plot was and how much intentionality went into the creation of the personalities and actions of the characters, but it is the social and political commentary on or the audacity of the the Germans and the British to meddle in other peoples territory and the Tanzanian nationals who fought for them to bring about the colonization of their own homeland, that endears this book to my heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, and War

Moderate: Torture

nialiversuch's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Slavery, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Xenophobia