Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

10 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

bookmaddie's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This is a monumental, generational story of family, loss, and generational trauma. And that’s all I’ll say on the plot because it’s SO complex—there is a lot going on. The first 40-50 pages feature so much world building, with historical events and new character names introduced every few pages. It made it quite hard to get into the story, but I did eventually push through.

The rest of the story is very plot heavy, and I enjoyed getting to know a few characters, but I felt like the stories I was interested in were never the ones focused on. I also found the ending to be a bit too perfect, and it felt quite rushed. A story that stretched over 30 years plus was zoomed through another 30 years in only a few pages at the end.. it felt a bit off-balance to me.

I don’t think Gurnah’s work is something I’ll return to, but I could see this being an interesting book to read about in class and dissect with a teacher to guide you. But as a casual reader, this isn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage

thejuliette's review

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

jennikreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Abandonment, Child abuse, Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Death of parent and Miscarriage

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, War, and Violence

nfoutty's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Death, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Abandonment

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

luananki's review

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

i‘m very torn on how to rate afterlives. the story was great, very interesting and i’m glad i picked it up as i learned a lot about german colonialism in east africa.

i just had a hard time getting into it due to the first half feeling a bit detached, emotionless and not very clear on where its going.

either way, it’s an impactful book with impactful characters and truly deserving of its nobel prize.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Violence, War, Colonisation, Death, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, and Grief

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, War, and Violence

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

 Afterlives is a very different book. It’s compelling look at the devastating impact of colonialism. In this case the area is modern day Tanzania, the colonial power is Germany and the focus is the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially World War I. The story centres on four main characters - Khalifa, Ilyas, Afiya and Hamza - and we witness their ordinary lives unfold in the context of extraordinary times.The racism, emotional and physical abuse and the utter contempt with which some Africans were treated was gut-wrenching, especially those who ended up fighting for the German army in a conflict that had nothing to do with them. Less obvious, but none the less impactful was the upheaval of traditional social structures. The story as well as the storytelling is compelling and the writing while understated is nevertheless impactful.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Racism