Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

445 reviews

mirandyli's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

A beautiful story about transness and queerness in Nigeria. Very sad and will probably make you cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Incest, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Transphobia, Infertility, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Outing

katreena's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

From the very first page of this book I thought the writing was breathtakingly beautiful. My opinion on this never wavered as the author used such powerful imagery and expression of emotion.. I was very thrown off by the incest and the language around the relationship did not let that dynamic fall to be forgotten.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Incest, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Blood

alaiyo0685's review against another edition

emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Death and Blood

ramramyum's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Death, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Infidelity

ljpaatan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Incest, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts

dreadspawn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Incest, Death, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Animal death, and Hate crime

midnightrubies's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Ngl the incest was so messy. Also Osita having to live with the knowledge that Nnandi' s death was an accident is so heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Grief, Incest, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Transphobia

alyssaakdefusco's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? No

4.5

I could barely put this book down, but not because I needed to know what happened to Vivek. The portrait of a young, queer Nigerian man and his family was so vivid, generous, and devastating. Walking through their lived experiences and their grief was so raw and beautiful. The timeline jumps and narrator shifts were absolutely seamless. This book flowed in such a poignant way and it will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, and Transphobia

avidreadr's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. This book was so bizarre and broached some uncomfortable subjects. But it's impossible absolutely impossible to not fall in love with Vivek.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest

nightfell's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

I know the ending was probably intended to be shocking but it ended up being anticlimactic for me. I wish we had gotten to see more of what was going on for Vivek, even though I know the book was intentionally written through outside perspectives, I wanted to hear more about his journey finding himself, even through the perspectives of the girls, I would have had more of a connection to his struggles and thus his families' struggles. 

But I feel like the author didn't and framed his gender identity as a reveal at the end, which I personally didn't like, but I understand why it was written in that way. 

Also, why was there incest. What was the reason? "My cousin. My brother. The love of my sinful life" or something like that, like whyyy did they not only write incest but kept on reminding us that they are related, and like brothers?? It kind of ruined the book for me, I couldn't look past it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Death, Homophobia, and Transphobia