Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

8 reviews

laedyred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book requires an analytic, critical lens of a literature student to get the most out of it. The prose can drag at times but this isn't exactly an action-packed story. The horrors of the Nigerian civil war are on full display. Besides the two women protagonists, I hated every character. Men are truly the scum of the earth. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, War, Sexual violence, Rape, Infidelity, Death, Misogyny, Gun violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment

mimio_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Genocide, Murder, Violence, War, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Torture

rbacon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

This is very literary and I feel like that style made it longer for me when reading it. However the content and topics covered are so interesting and hard hitting, particularly reminding the Western world and Britain of our history actually being pretty shady since forever.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Torture, War, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Excrement

perfectphlaws's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It was a well written book, but reminded me why I don't usually stray too far from romance. So much rape. War is ugly indeed, maybe I'll just read about it in the news rather than rehashing past horrors. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexism, War, Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Infertility, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Blood, and Chronic illness

daniela_is_reading's review against another edition

emotional informative sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Based on the Nigerian- Biafran war (1967-1970). A part of history I was not familiar with. We learn of the brutality of war, acts of violence we can never imagine human beings capable of inflicting on one another. Yet it happened. We feel and learn of the hate, intolerance, responsibilities, love and hope through the 5 main characters. I wouldn't say that the characters are lovable or perfect, instead they are beautifully flawed and complex; human. I'm glad I picked up this book.  Chimamanda manages to capture the dualities of hate and love, dread and hope so eloquently in her writing. Story telling based on real life events at its best. 
This book is worthy of a 5 star rating. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and War

lenin_lover_69's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Racism, Child death, and Death

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

Note: I had the displeasure of finding out about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's particular brand of trans-exclusionary feminism shortly after finishing this book. With that in mind, I will not be supporting her work in the future. Trans women are women. 

4.5 ⭐s. I can definitely see why this is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award-winning-est (is that a word?) work. Not only did I enjoy this immensely just from a writing perspective - the characters, plot, world-building, symbolism, narrative devices, all flawless - I also learned so much about an aspect of history that I was relatively clueless about up until this reading. This book is unflinching, and subsequently has trigger warnings for just about every trigger on the books, but it is a very impactful, emotional, and educational read. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

helenar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I found this to be a difficult read emotionally and ended up reading it in small amounts interspersed with much gentler books. The author describes the realities of the Biafran war and the deep suffering of the main characters, who are by no means flawless, and those around them, left me reeling. I knew very little of the events in Nigeria at a time in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s just before I was born  and so I did some factual research but nowhere I looked came close to the way the author portrayed the very complicated nature of this war and the human or seemingly inhuman acts that took place and the affects and scars that they leave. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence