Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

229 reviews

squidreads12's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

Oh lord. There was some absolutely gorgeous prose in this, and the slow unraveling of the “murder mystery” and the metaphors were stunning. However, and it is a big however.
I HATE when authors use incest as a plot point. It never adds anything, and now we’re all just uncomfortable. Maybe that’s the point, to be uncomfortable, I’m not sure. It really brought down the whole thing for me. 
And no spoilers but when we find out as readers how the mc actually died… I was disappointed to say the least. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual content, and Transphobia

dmulliga's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

bookishfaye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

An absolutely devastating, gut-wrenching, & traumatizing trans story. 

Be warned, it is absolutely riddled with very uncomfortable incest.

TW: *Graphic and on page depictions* Incest, Rape, SA, non-consensual sexual encounters, violent homophobia/transphobia, violent hateful depictions of extreme hateful religion, death, mourning a loved one

*not on page, but mentioned* transphobic lynching 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

fourleaf12's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence

thotdaughter's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Transphobia and Religious bigotry

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

jill_holly's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Another beautifully written, complex, and captivating book by Emezi. What I love about their writing is the crystal clear voice of their characters and exploration of Nigerian culture, sexuality, family, identity and love. The friendship between Vivek and Juju pulled at my heart and somehow this book was both heart-wrenching, morally challenging at parts, while also being hopeful. It looks at the ways societal norms can stifle relationships and the courage it takes to live in your full identity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Incest, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Violence

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

4.75

oh :(

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

shasha's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

ate this up in a day but cannot get behind the way it is revealed Vivek actually dies. Sometimes it’s ok to not have all the answers, since the death is not really what the book was about anyway. Otherwise a fascinating read, despite incest!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content

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