Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah

3 reviews

ka_cam's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Once I started reading this short story collection it was hard to stop! Quite varied in types but themes of connection, family, diaspora, and women’s relationships/desires (incl some casual queerness love 2 see it). Some of the stories read more like teasers or brainstorms for a longer story/novel, rather than complete short stories. All in all really enjoyed and am excited to read more by this author! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gun violence, Colonisation, Murder, Racism, War, Body horror, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Body shaming, Car accident, and Blood

gothnailcare's review

I may pick this up again because the prose is incredible and the stories are deeply affecting, but the content is so incredibly dark that I can often only read one story at a time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Sexism, Murder, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

moonlitemuseum's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

The platter of misery served up by Lesley Nneka Arimah is so potent and rich that I could barely stomach it. It took me two tries to get through this anthology of short stories in full, but what a range! So many left me feeling haunted, empty, gnawing, but thoroughly sustained in spite of that.

I originally heard the titular "What It Means When A Man Falls from the Sky" on Levar Burton's podcast and it shook me to the core. A world where math=empathy, where our current climate troubles turn global politics inside-out, where grief is empirically indigestible—i loved everything about the anxious world she wove in this story. It hits like a bullet every time.

Most of the stories take a grain of sadness in the lives of women and inspect it under a microscope. How do they fail themselves? How are they failed by the societies around them? How do they continue on? I often dreaded the pause that signaled the end of the story, knowing its characters would be left there, suspended in their grief. It's incredibly effective work. I can't wait to read more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Death, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Abandonment, Violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child death, Body shaming, Blood, and Bullying