Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

63 reviews

greenpearls's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Hate crime, Mental illness, and Death of parent

callme_tippy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This book is hard to review. I love Akwaeke Emezi's writing style, if there is one thing they can do, it's write. However, I found this one hard to read. 

I so wish that the two main characters were not related. I found the incest storyline very off-putting. It made it impossible for me to feel happy about their "love story", it just feels traumatizing and wrong. 

This story could have been beautiful and heartbreaking had the love interests not been so closely related. I feel that the incest doesn't add anything to the story and actually takes away from it. I would have felt more connected to the characters, and rooted for them had they not been related. It would have been so easy to make Osita a best friend instead of a first cousin. A first cousin that was raised as Viveks brother and that he often calls brother. 

I am baffled why Akwaeke chose this dynamic. It makes me wary to read more of their work. 
I also find it weird to make a trans character that has some type of mental illness going on, also be in an incestuous relationship. Not that it is right, but people already view trans people as taboo and wrong, so I find it strange to add a taboo and strange relationship to the mix. I don't know, something about that feels weird to me. 

We don't get any insight, information, or answer about what what type of mental illness going on with Vivek. She has these black outs that get brought up but not explained which I found frustrating. I wanted to know what that was about and why she has no recollection of these episodes. 

This book was just not it for me. I liked Vivek the most out all the characters, but I really had no favorites, the cast of characters was interesting to say the least. 

1 star for good writing, 1 star for well fleshed out characters. The incest ruined this one for me. I so wish they made the simple change to make them best friends instead of first cousins, I just could not connect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

jmiles758's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

brynalexa's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I went into this book blind but pretty sure I’d love it. Love is the wrong word but it was very easy to get through  (wonderful formatting) and extremely well written. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

mid_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Hate crime

destinied's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is easily one of the most impactful books I’ve read in the last several months. Maybe the whole year. A story of identity, repression, family, grief, and all of the complexities of being human while navigating these themes, The Death of Vivek Oji is about more than just physical death. It is also about the death of how we might view people based on our expectations, and the beautiful juxtaposition against the birth of the person as they are.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Blood

Minor: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Torture, and Vomit

cmklaft'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

2.25

i don't agree or like how incest was romanticized, this wasn'  necessary. Viveks black outs are never really explained,  i have made assumptions this is due to maybe his reincarnation and being his true self eliminates them,  but they just entirely disappear from the plot. Additionally,  Ebenezer's added story was unnecessary. 

Despite all my complaints,  I did enjoy the story and felt it was well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

lizziaha's review against another edition

challenging sad

5.0

AKWAEKE EMEZI YOUVE DONE IT AGAIN!! You ever read a sentence and it’s so good you want to eat it?? 
This book deals with some very complex issues and honestly i felt deeply uncomfortable about some of it. But I think that’s part of what made the book so good. It lets you form your own conclusions alongside the characters. It forces you to wade into the nuance and muddy your own moral compass. 
It’s really impossible to describe this reading experience but i want a physical copy in my hands NOW. A reread is imminent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria

Minor: Rape

ilianreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Outing, and Dysphoria