Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

19 reviews

kassidyreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense 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: Sexism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Rape

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Confinement, Grief, and Murder

boo1's review

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It made me cry

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Confinement, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault

anj's review

emotional sad tense

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Lesbophobia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder and Rape

jem_carstairs's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Rape, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Confinement, and Islamophobia

Minor: Vomit

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

Rukhsana Will do just about anything to keep her parents from finding out she’s a lesbian because she knows they will lose it, which creates tension with her girlfriend who just doesn’t understand why she can’t come out to them. A stressful but excellent read. Wasn’t a fan of the privileged/unsupportive girlfriend, and Rhukhsana’s parents suck, but still enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Outing, Confinement, Racism, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Islamophobia, and Emotional abuse

discogecko's review

challenging emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexism, Pedophilia, Hate crime, and Confinement

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Classism and Murder

my_weird_bookish_heart's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Confinement, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Classism

kp_writ's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.75

If you are looking at reviews before deciding to read: PLEASE for the love of god read the content warnings. It's rough. And because drugging and conversion therapy aren't included in Storygraph's list of content warnings, be prepared for those too.

I'll likely have to return to this review after I've digested some more, because dear god does this book give you a lot to digest. It was an easy read in that the writing style was good (if somewhat dialogue and narration-heavy) and each scene was quick and jumped straight into the next (a literal page-turner), but it was so beyond challenging in that the content was super dark. Thankfully this story never lets a plot point go without resolving it near immediately - one of the reasons it was such a page-turner, truly, but that was something that annoyed me quite a bit because it disrupted the tension and anticipation - but it really dragged on when we hit the darkest part of the story. I don't think I'm entirely satisfied with the ending since it feels so unrealistic. It felt as though the author was trying to shove a happy ending in there, but this book felt like it needed a bittersweet ending instead. There was one specific plot point that felt like it only existed for the shock factor, and it never really resolved. One of my biggest gripes with this book is that I kind of hated Rukhsana's Seattle friends and girlfriend. They were supposed to be the anchor point for her, especially during the darkest times, but they fell really flat as characters and as friends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Rape, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Islamophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Hate crime, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexism

belle2008's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

cleo_wylde's review

challenging hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Incest, Sexual violence, and Islamophobia