Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

60 reviews

katieimre's review against another edition

sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Sexual content, and Incest

Moderate: Rape and Violence

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

earthbound_edits's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, and Incest

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, Rape, War, and Vomit

naoewald's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

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

5.0

This is the kind of stories that stays with you for a long time and leave a big impact on you. Altough not an easy read, it’s one that is very important and should be read by everyone. Emezi has easily become one of my favorite authors with just one story. Excited to go through their entire backlist. Thank you for this gift.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Rape

yianzhang's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.25

Beautiful writing but some parts of the plot didn’t work for me. Reminded me of The God of Small Things 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Rape

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

I have some very conflicting thoughts about this book. One on hand the writing is beautiful, and I was engaged in the story, and the unraveling of what had happened. However, some aspects that people seem to find beautiful are just not it for me.

This story mainly follows the point-of-view of Vivek's mother, Kavita. We follow her questions and her grief as she tries to find the truth about her sons death. I found her to be a very real character, and she is the backbone of this book. I do wish we had seen more from Vivek's PoV though. We see his world through the eyes of others, but rarely from his own. Even just one or two more chapters from his PoV would have been perfect.

Some things that just felt weird in this story was the incest, and how the friends all had sex with each other. I have heard this book being highly praised multiple times, but no one has talked about this. Vivek and Osita are cousins who consider each other brothers, yet all of the characters are just a-ok with them becoming lovers. It just felt jarring when so much of the book is about acceptance, and being who you are.

Reading a book about a culture that detests anything that differs from the norm was heartbreaking. I found myself getting so angry with some of the characters, which is exactly the point. It felt so raw, and knowing that this is what people's lives are in reality is rough. 

Unfortunately, I found the "reveal" to be lacking. You see it coming from the very beginning, and it doesn't quite feel like the period at the end of a sentence that I was looking for. However, the last chapter is just perfect, and is a fantastic way to end the story of Vivek Oji. Overall, this is a gorgeous, tragic story, but it just isn't quite for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Moderate: Animal death, War, Violence, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Abandonment and Infertility

anniereads221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Transphobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Incest, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Rape, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

lena_loves_reading's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.5

The amazing writing made me want to rate it higher but when it comes to the story I would've enjoyed a bit more character development of Vivek.

Plus, having a relationship with a cousin is a thing in some cultures and I can get over that but referring to him as brother at the same time is just hella weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Incest

Moderate: Blood and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Xenophobia

cph3lps's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Rape