Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Eau douce by Akwaeke Emezi

10 reviews

orlagal'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Racism, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Grief, Homophobia, Stalking, Body horror, Colonisation, Drug use, Mental illness, Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Blood, Child abuse, Medical content, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Child death, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

leechspit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Absolute poetry.  A journey with heartbreak and layers of complex thoughts and feelings. Ada is a beautiful character who goes through so much and we are blessed and cursed to read along.
The trauma and transition of Ada make you feel scared, and angry, and mad. I could read this book again and again losing myself in that raw feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Racism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

grandiose_r's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Rape, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Car accident, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Addiction, Blood, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Racism, Gaslighting, Transphobia, Cultural appropriation, and Homophobia

Minor: Outing, Vomit, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Confinement

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, and Transphobia

bookwormbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

This book is beautifully written and its story is fabulously told. I remain such a huge fan of Akwaeke Emezi’s absolutely stunning work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia

emily_journals's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-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

4.5

This is a beautifully written partial memoir that I believe will have a strong impact on anyone who reads it. Make sure to check trigger warnings for this one before you pick it up as there is a lot of triggering content, but if you are willing/able to read those triggers this is definitely worth the read. 

I found this to be a very intriguing exploration of identity, gender, and sexuality through the lens of Igbo religion and culture. This book was heartbreaking and profound and is a book that I will be rereading in the future to fully appreciate and absorb everything portrayed in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Rape, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Outing, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Stalking, Transphobia, and Homophobia

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

I’m in complete awe. This was a very difficult read. I have only read one (maybe two) other book(s) that made me feel this way: like I plunged into a claustrophobic darkness/evil/sadness that made my chest ache the whole time I was swimming and I came to the surface GASPING for air and light. It was also beautiful; I wish there was a more specific word for this type of beauty. GENIUS writing, but I cannot recommend this one lightly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism and Dysphoria

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Mental illness, Rape, Blood, Suicide, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abortion and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

joshlegere's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cursing

valereads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

This book was an experience, one I do not quite know how to talk about. I’ve been putting off reviewing this book for a while because I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. Saying I enjoyed it wouldn’t be accurate but it’s a good book and I’m glad I read it.

One thing I particularly liked about this book were the distinct voices of the different POVs. You don’t need the headings to identify whose POV you’re in because Ada, Asughara and “We” all have such distinct voices which reflect their very different personalities. This is something I’ve seen some authors struggle with in the past so I was particularly impressed by this.

I thought this book took an interesting approach to spirituality and mental health. I knew a little about dissociative identity disorder (DID) before reading this (a close friend of mine was recently diagnosed) but I’ve never seen a non-medical perspective until now. I understand this book is ownvoices in this respect. I’d definitely like to see a review from someone else with a DID diagnosis so as to see what they think of this.

A warning before I conclude: this book is potentially extremely triggering. Reading a little background on it and my knowledge of DID meant that I was a little prepared but I highly recommend that if you’re even considering picking up this book then to read a list of content warnings.

Freshwater was intense. It was an experience. There is little more I can say about it other than if you’re interested then you should read it (but read the content warnings first).

Content Warnings: unreality, parental neglect, car accident involving a child, graphic description of gore, abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, csa, cocsa, rape, victim blaming, graphic descriptions of sex, self-harm, discussions of suicide, attempted suicide, homophobia, transphobia, exorsexism, top surgery referred to as “mutilation”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, and Transphobia

Minor: Incest