Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

12 reviews

riv_erb's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Racism and War

ranjanireviewsreads's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Hate crime, Misogyny, Cursing, Medical content, Grief, Police brutality, and Death

mattyb's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Grief, Death, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Medical trauma, Bullying, Islamophobia, Medical content, Outing, Police brutality, and Sexual content

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Vomit, and Violence

m_hates_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

4.0

4/5 Absolutely heartbreaking. 

A queer, first-love romance, but set in 1989 New York and based in the AIDS crisis - it’s one of the most moving books I’ve read. It’s been sat on my bookshelf since I originally came out in 2020, and I never bothered to read it until now. Im actually glad I didn’t read it when I first got it, bc I don’t think I would have been able to appreciate the imagery and symbolism as well.

The tri-perspective approach really works well- nobody’s the main character, it’s about how what happens effects all of them, the entire community. 

The reason it’s not a five star read, for me, was because I felt the writing lacked balance. The first half of the book was very cute and bubbly (or as cute and bubbly as it gets when your book is a queer romance set in 1989 New York) and all the very deeply emotional and moving scenes kind of happened together. It’s hard to explain, and I don’t want to criticise it too harshly because it is an incredibly beautiful story that the author has very obviously put their entire heart and soul into, but it felt like some passages were missing the spark that made the rest of it so great. 

Not my usual thing, but I’m glad I read it, and I’m glad it exists because I know just how meaningful it is and will be to so many people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Outing, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism

brynngaybee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. Historical young adult is a super interesting niche genre and this book is a great example. The characters were very strong and well defined if annoying at times. Characters personal flaws were well countered by others and they were given great opportunities to grow. Some conflicts were fairly contrived, but lots of teen conflicts in real life are terribly contrived as well, so fair enough. The diversity was great and this book is great to introduce teenagers to the time period of the aids crisis as it depicts activism fairly well and helps explain the cultural context surrounding the book. I loved the ending and how it subverted a lot of teen tropes and gave us a glimpse into the future of these characters. I was deeply engaged for the entire book and would recommend it to anyway interested in queer ya fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, and Police brutality

cheesepuppy's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Police brutality

sydneynorrie's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Minor: Police brutality

hmatt's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

What a great read. The writing strikes that perfect balance where it's both appropriate for YA but not too simplified. There's just the right amount of focus each on family/friendships/romance for a coming-of-age novel. I also felt like it did a great job at being didactic without being preachy re: sex ed, queer history & culture, intersectional privilege, etc.

Where I had a small issue was with the main point of conflict - it just felt very contrived to me.

I guess I just didn't buy in that it would be such a big deal to Judy that Art had a crush on Reza, acted on before she and Reza started dating, was rejected, and then kept his distance for the duration of their relationship. It's believable that she would be upset to some degree, but the extent it went to didn't make a lot of sense to me.

I was able to look past this because the author didn't make it the only plot point. Yay, multi-dimensional storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

xoodlebooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Medical content, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

annaminunlukea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Violence, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Grief, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Body shaming and Police brutality