Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

30 reviews

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 

---

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

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

shraddhab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

- beautifully written book about loss, grief, exploring identity, and family within nigerian culture. 
- Some chapters were uncomfortable to read due to the nature of the topic being discussed

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, and Sexual violence

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. 

---

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

---

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

froggin_around's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Violence

Moderate: Incest

ingridaleida's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Rape

donyea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While this was a well written book in terms of imagery and foreshadowing.  I also thought the progression of understanding Vivek’s identity and his transition was well done.  I loved the commentary on spiritual psychosis. HOWEVER….

there was really no need for the cousin incest to be described to that degree and portrayed as “true love”.  Upon reflection, Osita was repressed and he had an innocent crush on Vivek as a young child, growing up jealous of Vivek’s openness and identity—so his repression and reluctance to live his life freely as a gay man in Nigeria led him to turn to the only other queer male he knew and had a emotional relationship leading him to change the relationship to a physical one made sense.  However, that does not mean we have to pretend like incest is true love lol or have to describe the physicality to such a degree. Additionally, there were a couple plot holes like Vivek’s spells. Lastly, I actually hated the ending. I was hoping that, as the book went between pre- and post-death, Osita would not be in any way connected to Vivek’s death. To me that would have been too predictable. To make matters worse, Nnemdi died in the most ridiculous way possible.

In my opinion there were many unnecessary plot lines that actually had no effect on the plot.  So much went on in that book.  Like too much.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

this shit absolutely broke my heart, emezi has such a gorgeous way with words. the way they immerse you into these worlds and make you sit in these feelings of discomfort is absolutely unmatched. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

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

---

Content Warnings

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