Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

69 reviews

garynoplastie's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Religious bigotry, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Hate crime, Incest, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual content, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Animal death

drlove2018's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

One of those books that makes you extra sad when you turn the last page because it is just so good. I wanted to spend more time with these people, especially the title character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Vivek's gender fluidity is the point around which this novel's narrative pivots. Growing up in small-town Nigeria, Vivek dissociates from their assigned gender from a young age. Vivek's depression and  gender expression is constantly misinterpreted by family members as a mysterious illness. As the novel progresses, Emezi explores the heartbreaking ways that misunderstandings can damage relationships and life itself.

Nobody else writes the way Akwaeke Emezi does. In each of their books, their empathetic portrayal of the joys and pain of life feels like an unveiling of universal truths. The Death of Vivek Oji is no exception to this pattern in their work. Vivek, Osita, and their loved ones are all fully-fleshed, fully-flawed characters. True to life, their suffering often comes from ignorance and repressed feelings. 

I would have rated this five stars if not for the incest. I just could not understand why the primary relationship in this story had to be incestual. Not only are Vivek and Osita cousins but - as they often note themselves - they were raised as brothers. Couldn't we have been given a powerful romance without it happening with a blood relative? Maybe I'm being a prude but the inclusion of incest often took me out of an otherwise incredibly engaging story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Incest, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia

summerb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Grief, Incest, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit

laurataylor's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Grief, Physical abuse, and Transphobia

elmasbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Transphobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Physical abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, and Rape

ce_read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Outing, Blood, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Hate crime, and Transphobia

If this weren't written by a trans person I'd be a lot more mad about the ending

egg_cup's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

this book chewed me up and spat me out like a pomegranate seed I cried so hard during the last quarter of this book my eyes were sore and I had to lie silently and stare at the ceiling after I was finished for a while no thoughts head empty reduced to just an absolute shell of a human. 

Vivek I love you; Akwaeke Emezi it is ON SIGHT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, Incest, Grief, Violence, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Hate crime

agustdefault's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I absolutely love the writing style of this author. def a new must read. this is the kind of book that will stay with me for a long time. 

okay. it would have been 5 stars if it wasnt for the incest plotline. however, i love everything wlse about this book. it was such a hard read but truly rewarding. what i have thought about most since the ending is the way nnemdi died. it is expected to be a hate crime and while it is clearly a good thing she did not get attacked, the ending confuses me. the way she dies is so simple and insignificant to her life. it feels unnatural that she would die in such a mundane manner when her life was so full of controversy. but perhaps this was intentional? a death that is so normal, that could happen to anyone. a death that is not unique to her because her life did not warrant a violent end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Death, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry

thissydknits's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, and Blood