Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2 reviews

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