Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

35 reviews

espressoreader's review against another edition

I give books about 15% to catch me. This one has not given me one element to enjoy.  I get the vice part, but I don’t particularly care for it or any of the characters.  

This is not my cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Kidnapping, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Rape

emmehooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

4.75

Overall, I LOVED this book! There were so many morally ambiguous (and straight up bad) characters, plenty of commentary on elite society and urban Indian development, and lots of action.

There are 3 main POVS with an additional 2 mini-POVs towards the end - each has their own unique voice. I enjoyed the world and character building in the beginning but think the ending felt rushed and disjointed. 

This is a cliffhanger book with 2 more planned AND a TV series on FX

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Car accident, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Abortion, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Suicide

meaghanslibrary's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

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

1.75

This book started out alright with Ajay’s point of view. It was interesting to enter that world. But the second or third parts of the book were different points of view that I didn’t care for, I think it might be because the characters didn’t have redeeming qualities. 

It really felt the author was trying to do too much. Especially with trying to change the writing styles to poems when Sunny is being beaten up.

I did not get the ending at all, I was hoping it would redeem reading this long book, but it fell very flat.

I think maybe this book was more written like it was ready to be a screenplay for a movie because some parts felt so choppy. 

I feel like the book could have been good and had such good reviews but I’m very disappointed because it was so long and I just don’t get what the purpose of the book was at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, and Classism

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

2.75

This was insightful to early 21st century India issues that still spread out and rot its society today, although some parts can come off as trauma/poverty porn and there's some graphic, gratuitous prison sexual violence for really immersive bleakness. Neda's, and especially, Sunil Rastogi's sections to me were wholly unnecessary. A lot of the book is superfluous for that matter and at the 84% mark jumbled and unraveled to nonsense. But I liked taking the time to google the cuisine mentioned throughout that made my mouth water and for what it's worth Sunny Wadia's character and the story were entertaining but this is a big book physicall but not very grand in style or writing despite the intent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

grantsharpies's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

 

“He dared to dream at the roulette wheel of life and lost his shirt every time.” 

 

There was a bit of buzz around this one as it came out, just recently, which had it on my radar. And I also got an ALC version of it from Libro.fm, which helped keep it there. I was in the mood for something more...I don't know, entertaining, I guess? Like, I know that gangster books are not necessarily light reads, as they are likely chock full of violence and substance misuse and other tough topics, *but* they have that escapist/surreal vibe that I was looking for, so I decided to give this one a try. 

 

Age of Vice opens with a post-car crash scene, with multiple people dead and a rich man's car (being driven by a shell-shocked servant with no memory of the night's events) found by police on the side of the road in Delhi. As the novel unfolds, the reader follows three perspectives of people connected to the influential-from-the-shadows, loved and feared and power-hungry, Wadia family. Sunny Wadia is the heir to the Wadia family dynasty, young and idealistic and a well-known host of lavish parties and patron of upcoming arts and socialites. Ajay is a young boy from a background of poverty who has found himself as Sunny's most trusted servant. And Neda is a journalist who, after being pulled into Sunny's sphere, finds herself in an ever-more-complicated relationship with both Sunny and the Wadia empire. Their stories span the breath of contemporary India, both in location and class, and highlight social issues, complicated interpersonal and romantic dynamics, the drama and violence and expectations of gangs and gang families, as well as the general greed of humanity and the constant battle to stand against corruption and for morality. 

 

This was well-marketed. Absolutely a good old-fashioned, classic gangster style story. As indicated in the title, there is every kind of vice imaginable in these pages: money, substances, power, sex, and, of course, tons of intimidation and violence. I was really impressed with how well Kapoor combined all those vibes with (stunning) setting descriptions and full character development that stood up the the intensity of the plot. It would have been easy for those details to be lost or consigned to the background, but they weren't - it was a great balance. That being said, this book was also long. I was so glad for the audiobook, because while I really was invested, everything was quite compelling, there was also no conciseness in the language used to convey it all. Being able to listen helped keep me moving forwards through it.   

 

I don't read a lot of books of this genre, so I am not really sure how the stories usually unfold, but I do have to say this was surprisingly emotionally a downer. Like, yes, lots of terrible things happen, violence-wise, but I had gone in expecting that. It was the character's story arcs in particular that were all honestly tragic AF. I mean even though they all ended with a sort of eye toward the future, there was nothing happy or positive about any of it. At best, one could consider some of the "fresh(ish) start" vibes as a neutral place to leave these characters. But overall, the trajectory of the individual stories for Sunny, Ajay and Neda did nothing so much as demonstrate how this type of "age of vice" lifestyle takes advantage of/screws over everyone in its quest for power and oblivion and money, no matter how you're related, inside or out of it. There is just so much naïveté and idealism and best intentions and morals squashed. It was tough to watch the slow slide into...settling. 

Overall, this is an incredible combination of all the drama and violence of a true crime syndicate/corrupt affluent population/complacent government mystery-thriller plot, with the sweeping descriptions of the city and rural landscapes of an entire country, with the character development of an intergenerational family saga. Very much some quality escapist reading, with a satisfying dose of social justice commentary. 

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Car accident, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Torture

alidrooler's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It’s very well written. But it’s dark and violent, and ends abruptly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Murder, Classism, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense 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

4.0

I waited a few days to process before I could write a review on this one. I read it all in one day and I couldn't put it down, so yes I'd say it's compelling. I wouldn't, however, say it's an easy read. I struggled with so much of the story. If you're not familiar with the culture or language of Northern India, you may want to keep a phone or laptop nearby to look up slang and such. Despite the length of this book, there were some characters that needed much more detailed backstories because their intentions were so vague. I'm hoping for a sequel that provides this. Please check trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, and Classism

katieimre's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Trafficking, Abortion, and Child death

drownedinfictionx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Gun violence, Child death, and Kidnapping