Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

19 reviews

simonefk's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? No

4.5

I think this is a really beautiful novel, it really explores the culture of Nigeria and follows two distinctly different characters, one living in poverty and the other, a wealthy doctor. It's quite a dark and heavy book and violent at times but was a real eye opener into issues like domestic violence and political corruption.

Its just short of 5 stars for me as I feel it was a slow burner initially with character building then the second half progressed quite quickly meaning it felt a little like two distinct halves but nonetheless I would definitely reccomend this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, and Death

junglejelly's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a beautifully written book with such interesting characters.

While I did mostly enjoy the book, I did find the middle too slow in pace, and the parents' perspectives too jarring. The slow pace and different perspectives affected the flow of the book.

The ending is so haunting and left me

devestated with the family deaths and the unhopeful feeling it leaves you with

.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Suicide, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Bullying

stellahadz's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

The ending of this book absolutely devastated me. It made me cry real tears for the characters and their suffering. Only read this book if you are prepared for an unhappy ending. 

That being said, it's a brilliantly written book. The characters are well fleshed-out, and their stories are gripping, although sometimes hard to read because of how much hardship they face. The beginning of the book dragged a bit for me, but the last 3/4 more than made up for it. Definitely recommend, but only if you're ready for a book to break your heart. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

kwahl's review

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Suicide, Grief, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

rei_reads's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Suicide

amanda_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I very much enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator’s did a wonderful job. It was a nice slow pace for a while, letting me get invested in the characters. Everything felt quite low stakes. The ending, however, felt a bit like getting hit by a bus. And then it was over. And honestly I’m still not sure how I feel about that. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Death

amberinpieces's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Classism, Sexism, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Sexual content, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, and Child death

bg_oseman_fan's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This story reminded me a lot of Mistry’s A Fine Balance. I admired her ability to weave the characters stories and reveal so much through showing rather than telling. The tragedies felt earned but not inevitable and every word of the story felt like it described the situation perfectly. it was difficult to read at times because of the subjects, but all were handled very well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Classism, Domestic abuse, Violence, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Murder, Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Cursing

yawningtiger's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is an excellent second novel. I’ve been really loooking forward to this since reading Stay With Me when it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Ayobami Adebayo packs so much into 340 pages with the concepts, characters and culture of Nigeria, highlighting inequalities etc with a very deft touch. The characters feel so real, I’m imagining them existing long after finishing the novel.
Whilst this is a slow read (it’s so compact!) I still struggled to walk away and kept having breaks so that I could pick up the book again and continue to be immersed in the world Adebayo created/is writing of. Even the cover art is beautiful.
I’m already impatient for their next novel, but this one was definitely worth the wait! Will just have to reread ‘Stay With Me’ again in the meantime.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

Minor: Grief, Mental illness, and Death

wordsofclover's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Set in a Nigerian city, this story follows two characters who live very different lives - one is a teenage boy called Eniola, who is facing daily beatings in school due to his parents' inability to pay his school fees but most days, there isn't even food on the table since his father lost his job. The other character Wuraola is a young doctor, newly engaged to a man from a good family, and the daughter of a professor herself. The two lives we follow are very separate as they both go through ups and downs, but eventually they converge in a moment of tragedy.

This book is one that I wasn't sure how I really felt until the very end, and I had to ask myself if there was a hole in my chest due to the immense sad feelings I had for the characters and how much I wanted to hold them and comfort them but also spend more time with them - and ask what happens next?

I loved the setting in this book as I often do with Nigerian writers, and Nigerian-based stories. The Nigerian culture from the family dynamics, food, clothing and celebration all comes alive in so many ways as well as some of the bad sides of the country as well such as political corruption and violence, family pressures about being a wife but also a 'good' wife, and the unfair education system. It was honestly so sad to see Eniola's heart be broken in so many ways in this book (similar in a way to how Wuraola's spirit and body are beaten by Kunle) as he saw his father for who he really was, not a teacher hero but a man prone to depression and unable to help his family when they most need it, and also saw his parents choose his sister's education over his own. The fact that Eniola went from a boy who dreamed of university to one who eventually picked up a machete in a moment that changed his world forever was devastating and the broken boy at the end of the novel was heartache personified.

On the other hand, Wuraola's life and problems are so very different to Eniola's - while he is struggling to find food to eat, she is balancing a needy, problematic boyfriend as well as her loud yet loving family and societal expectations on her as a Nigerian woman but also a daughter of a prominent family. But through the story, we see how good her family is, her father's kindness and her sister's courage, as well as her mother's love for her children as well as her moments of charity towards Eniola.

The almost last scene at the end of the book in the taxi broke my heart and I don't think I'll ever forget it. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Violence