Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7 reviews

demeryg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I thought this book was fantastic. Though I would say at  points it was slow.  It took me a moment to fall into the rhythm but once I did it was game over! 
I found the topics in this book really educational and relevant to other genocides happening at the hands of USA and Britain. It was informative and also a beautiful story between the mix of characters and their interpersonal relationships.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Child death, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Death

florenceassetto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

this book was absolutely incredible, honestly one of the most impactful reads i have ever done. i have never connected with characters like i did here and i laughed for them and CRIED for them and hoped for them and it was so powerful. a must read for everyone i would recommend 100 times over

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Animal death, Death, Grief, Rape, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, War, and Child death

Moderate: Blood and Colonisation

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Medical content, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, War, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Blood, Vomit, Sexual violence, Genocide, Gore, Classism, and Child death

Moderate: Colonisation and Animal death

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Colonisation, War, Abortion, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Gore, Infertility, Rape, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical content, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Confinement, Sexism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Child death, Classism, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

foxo_cube's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.75

I loved this book!

I will start of by saying I know very little about the Nigerian civil war - this was my first time reading about it at all, but I am grateful that the author included a list of books she used as reference material because I am interested in reading non-fiction on the topic now.

The characters within this were, I think, brilliantly crafted. They were introduced, typically, with a basic set of traits, but develop into people who feel real: people with idiosyncracies, and prejudices they trip themselves up on, and fallibility. There are no wholly good or bad people, and the feelings characters have towards each other are often complex.

The interaction between small-scale, interpersonal drama and traumas and the big-scale social tensions is very well-balanced, I felt, and the responses to the horrors of the war (and pre-war massacres) shown by the characters feel thought-out.

The ending felt almost anti-climactic, I will say, but then I suppose that's pretty realistic too, isn't it? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, and Racism

Moderate: Genocide, Alcohol, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

dilara2912w's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, War, Gore, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Blood, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Violence, and Vomit

erenreads12's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad 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

4.5

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does not disappoint with this book. The high expectations I had for this after reading Americanah were well and truly met. What started off as a gentle, intimate account of life in 60s Nigeria became a horrifying, tragic, brutal portrayal of the civil war, inspecting closely the ways we carry war inside of us when it is happening around us. The ending, through lacking the closure one would normally expect from a novel, drove home the very point - there is no closure in war, or happy endings. I deducted .5 of a star simply because I saw some of the betrayal plotinus coming - but it was nowhere near enough to ruin the experience. This is a hugely important and heartbreaking book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Rape, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Pedophilia