Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

In Every Mirror She's Black by Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström

11 reviews

vvsmydiamonds's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

I read nearly 400 pages in hopes of a satisfactory ending for each of the hopeful protagonists— I was disappointed. As always, I wanted to love this book but it appears it wasn’t made for me. 
Also, I strongly dislike the untranslated Swedish conversations, specifically those between Jonny’s family. How are you gonna publish a book in English and not make it a point to translate arguments between secondary characters? I had to pull out a pencil, paper, and good ol’ google translate multiple times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide attempt, Infertility, Abortion, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

mikaclapson's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Sexual content, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

readbycarina's review

challenging 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Racism, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death, Child death, and Body shaming

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death, Abortion, Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racism, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Alcohol, Blood, and Cancer

moniipeters's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Police brutality, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Drug use, Genocide, Cancer, Deportation, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

fenemiestolovers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Whew…what a gut-wrenching picture of what it can mean to be a Black woman today. The characters are imperfect and human and just trying to do the best they can with what they know and what they have. I definitely understand it wouldn’t be for everyone and I can’t speak to the accuracy or quality of representation. And yet, I won’t forget this one anytime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Deportation, Infertility, Trafficking, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Blood, Child death, Violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Ableism, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, War, and Abortion

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, and Racism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Ableism, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, Classism, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

Minor: Islamophobia, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Infertility, Trafficking, Violence, Hate crime, Murder, and Sexual assault

bandysbooks's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This is the story of three Black women, each from a different background, living in Sweden and tied together by one unique man. I loved that we get a POV for each of the three women so that we get a chance to really know them. We learn their hopes, fears, and struggles. I felt like I had a good idea of who each of them was by the end of the book.

I really liked the author’s dedication to portraying characters with diverse backgrounds. The main three characters are each Black women, but their backgrounds are varied. Kemi is Nigerian-American, Muna is a refugee to Sweden from Somalia, and Brittney-Rae is African American. The main male character, Johnny, is neuro divergent and portrayed thoughtfully. We also see supporting characters who are refugees from Eritrea and Syria and two of Kemi’s friends are a gay couple. All of the diversity makes the story so much richer and realistic.

My only real critique of this story is that the ending was a bit open ended. I didn’t necessarily want it to be neatly wrapped up, but I wish there was just a bit more.

All in all, I would definitely recommend it for contemporary fiction readers, particularly readers with an interest in prejudice, xenophobia, fetishism, ableism, and racism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Classism, Grief, Islamophobia, Confinement, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Stalking, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Fetishism

morganrasco0315's review

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, Suicide, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

booksjessreads's review

informative reflective 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? No

3.0

I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Head of Zeus publishing for sending me a copy of this book and this has no way impacted my review!

In Every Mirror She's Black follows the lives of 3 black women moving to Sweden under different circumstances, and how their lives are connected through a rich man. Kemi navigates racism within her marketing role in Sweden; Brittany-Rae facing racial discrimination within her husbands family; and Muna, due to seeking asylum in Sweden from Somalia.

This isn't my typical read and I wanted to give something different a go and I definitely enjoyed this in parts! As Akerström says on the front of this proof, she wanted to have the characters make mistakes to allow us to engage with the gravitas of their actions and this definitely follows through! I have read some reviews that have said they didn't like the direction the characters took, but to be honest, this is exactly what I loved. They make choices which were unexpected and reminding the reader that life in books is certainly not picture perfect.

Perhaps my favourite character was Muna. Her story was quite different in comparison to the others and she had a lot of deep-rooted emotional trauma from turmoil in Somalia which, for me, made me feel more invested in her story. Kemi also really grew on me and by the end I was fully invested in her character.

I think one thing that knocked a star or so off for me was the expression of toxic masculinity in this, particularly in the beginning. Jonny gave me major red flag alerts. In the middle of the novel, he kind of grows on you. He makes you think he's just completely infatuated with his OH, but when his behaviour gets explained at the end, it just didn't satisfy me enough.

Overall though, a good read and a promising debut! Its very similar to Queenie and Such a Fun Age so if you have enjoyed either of those then this is definitely a book to read next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Vomit and Misogyny