Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

21 reviews

rchulin1's review against another edition

sad fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Blood, Murder, Violence, Classism, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Sexism

suzieel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Violence

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. 

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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

.

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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 against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

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

kwahl's review against another edition

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

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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 against another edition

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

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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. 

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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

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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 against another edition

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. 

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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