Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

26 reviews

hngisreading's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Incest, Transphobia, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Homophobia

morganperks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

did not appreciate the emotions this book made me feel. I was crying by the end (when am I not tho?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Outing, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Medical content, Self harm, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Alcoholism, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, War, Death of parent, Transphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Blood and Drug use

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

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

haveyseentis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

This was triggering for me. Obviously it involves the death of somebody and the way that grief is discussed in this book is The most upfront real depiction of grief that I have ever read and the hopelessness and uselessness in the face of grief that is discussed in this book was really upsetting. This is not a book for somebody in for a good time but the commentary on queer life in Nigeria really opened my eyes and I feel enriched after having read this book but still with a deep-seated new awareness of mortality that was scary for me. It was a fast read but it was perfectly paced.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Deadnaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death and Infertility

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

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Outing, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Lesbophobia

onmalsshelf's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Grief, Incest, and Infidelity