Reviews tagging 'Blood'

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

8 reviews

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is about the village of Kosawa, Africa and all those who live and died there. Kosawa, like many other poor areas of the world, was taken advantage of by a huge corporation who got them to sign contracts they didn’t understand then poisoned their air, soil, and water. This meant that many of their children got sick and died. Then they started fighting back.

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Content Warnings

Minor: War, Grief, Death, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Chronic illness, Blood, and Child death

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved Mbue’s debut book, Behold the Dreamers, and after enjoying this one as well she’s officially become an auto buy author!

The story takes us through generations of Kosawa residents with switching POVs from Thula, different members of her family, and the children of the village. Their stories are emotional but contain glimmers of hope as they fight to get their land back from an oil corporation poisoning their families.

How Beautiful We Were has beautiful writing and well written, complex characters. I just love her storytelling style and ability to create such depth with all of her characters, giving each their own unique voice.

The chapters are a little too long for my taste making it feel slower/harder to read here and there, but as I got further into the novel, the chapters started to go  by faster. 

Overall a heartbreaking but enjoyable, groundbreaking novel! I can’t wait to see what Mbue writes next.

TW/CW: child death, kidnapping, imprisonment, death, miscarriage/stillbirth, grief, colonization, violence, blood, child sexual abuse, gun violence, mass shooting, slavery, religious bigotry (brief mention), rape

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Gun violence, Violence, Confinement, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, and Rape

Minor: Religious bigotry and Fatphobia

readingelli's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape

Massacres, legal disputes

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child death, Murder, Grief, Terminal illness, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Chronic illness, Gore, Incest, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Ableism

Minor: Homophobia, Deportation, and Fatphobia

environmental destruction, saneism

nfoutty's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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: Blood, Death, Police brutality, Colonisation, Grief, Murder, Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Infertility, Sexual content, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Incest, Torture, Trafficking, Death of parent, Classism, Kidnapping, and Homophobia

Minor: Alcohol and Abandonment

carol_c26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? No

3.75

dark and sad and mysterious but was sometimes difficult to keep moving through 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Child death, Mass/school shootings, and War

raenyreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

The subject matter of this book was what drew me into reading it and I'm glad I did. I think if you don't know much about this aspect of the world its a really important read and shows how unfair the world can be. However, the jumping back and forth in timelines and points of view made this a bit boring and difficult to read as it felt like the story was progressing at a snails pace even without all the flash backs. So that's why my rating is a little lower than it would be if this was not the case.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, and Sexual assault

kayleyhyde's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Violence, and Gun violence

Minor: Torture, Infertility, Racism, and Blood