Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

56 reviews

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Wow, just wow 

This book tells the story of a tragedy. The clues in the name, but how did we get here?

Set in Nigeria, it tells the of a family through the eyes of two generations. The story has an interesting structure, and one I can't remember reading before in that we hear from 3 points of view, but  one of these is an omniscient narrator which allows us to zoom in and zoom out  all the time. 

Themes here include how changing social attitudes can manifest within families even in an oppressive society  Gender identity and what children can teach their parents 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Outing, and Transphobia

Minor: Islamophobia

filosophicfoton's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Grief, Transphobia, Abandonment, Death, Incest, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Blood, Hate crime, Violence, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Domestic abuse

kylosten's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Homophobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Animal death

kjofalltrades's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Homophobia, Outing, Mental illness, Infertility, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse

mrtrower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Outing, Rape, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

workingdaley's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book made me feel, deeply. It really makes me think of all of the moments of joy that we try to find, even when we are surrounded by tragedy. I am deeply fascinated by the characters and their motivations. Their moments of discovery, their moments of betrayal, their moments of joy, their moments of grief. Each of these characters carry a significant weight on their shoulder, and you can feel it in the way that they move through the world. But you can also feel how deeply they care for one another, and the lengths that they would go to protect one another. This is a deeply emotional story, but I feel like it's so relevant to the times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Death, Blood, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual harassment and Drug use

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death and Physical abuse

thepassivebookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Incest, Blood, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

tea_kettle's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.25

amazing story, beautifully written, and one i would read again despite the heartbreak. However, the mildly (and later very graphically) incestuous themes were pretty uncomfortable to get through, and i don’t think they necessarily needed to be that way. Still, it was a great story, and i’m glad it was told, especially by a writer so skilled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, Grief, Child death, Incest, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Hate crime, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Deportation, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Vomit, Infertility, and Rape

angiepoggi's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

The Death of Vivek Oji not only depicts mourning in a beautyful manner, but also brings us, the readers, into that mourning as well.

Vivek's death is not only about the act of not ever being able to breath anymore, it's about the death of who his family thought he was, and, as well as his birth that was accompanied by grief, about her rebirth.

It's such a carefully woven story that never let's go of the nuances of every decision and thought of It's characters, who, if you told me were real, I would've believed without sparing a doubt. 

Even thought there were some relationships that I have conflicted feelings about and believe could've been brought here in a different way, I'll still cary this story for life and think about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Drug use, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Infidelity, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Rape