Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

144 reviews

al_owl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Blood, Child death, Transphobia, Homophobia, Grief, Incest, and Infidelity

mausi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book was such a surprise, it took me on a journey I did not expect! And what an emotional journey that was. The story genuinely took me by surprise and got me thinking a lot about it. This is the second book by Akwaeke Emezi and I love how challenging and daring their books are. It certainly challenged my thinking about love in many ways. Additionally, having read about the author themselves, I imagine this story is highly personal to them as they also grew in Nigeria as a queer person. I certainly learnt a lot about what it must be like for a queer person to grow up in and oppressive environment, certainly a book to recommend, especially to those who might not understand queer love and struggle. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Mental illness, Grief, Death, and Homophobia

jht5791'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Blood, and Death

shoohoob's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

Beautifully written book. I flew through it and the characters were fascinating to me. That being said, the incest was really prominent and almost made it DNF. 

I’m not really sure why Vivek and Osita couldn’t have just been close childhood friends instead of cousins. Maybe it was just supposed to add to taboo life Vivek was living, but it was really uncomfortable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Incest, and Homophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Blood, Infidelity, and Outing

kathyreadsalot's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

My heart is smashed and stomped on. Wow. This book was heartbreaking and sad and had me boohoo crying with the characters. This was prose at its finest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia

mandi_lea's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Grief, Transphobia, Sexual content, Blood, Dysphoria, Incest, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

crimsonreader's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Incest, Violence, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent

quidproqueer's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-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: Incest, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, and Infertility

megcordoba's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Blood, Incest, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.75

 Akwaeke Emezi is a masterful storyteller and writer. Every book they write is a gift to experience, and this one is no different. The last 20% of the story, in particular, made me sob. The entire novel has such a a deeply lyrical and emotional story about the way we relate to others and how well we know the peiple we live. I think we can all see ourselves in the characters with their emotional depths. Akwaeke is so talented at describing grief and making that raw, difficult emotion something they can communicate through their stories. It is such a talent.

The book is heavy in many ways, so please be mindful of the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Sexual content, Grief, Medical content, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death

For context on the incest tag:

The incest takes place consensually between cousins.