Reviews tagging 'Death'

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

12 reviews

miraleighv's review

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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Child death, Classism, and Death of parent

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Racism, Vomit, Pregnancy, Deportation, Medical content, Grief, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual assault, Car accident, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Cultural appropriation, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual content

sorcha's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Addiction, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Deportation, Infidelity, Child death, Alcohol, Vomit, Death of parent, Racism, and Rape

befrazzledenby's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

This book was a rollercoaster, and I’m still not sure how to feel about it, though that’s usually a sign of a good book for me. I both loved and hated the characters, especially Jende. They all felt so real and complicated and just human. I loved Neni from the start. 

There were moments where the book felt as though it was moving too slow; other times, too fast. The pacing was just off for me, though that definitely added to the overall mood of the book and certainly is part of why it was a rollercoaster. 

There’s so many things to talk about in this tiny review, but I will leave it at this: this was the most raw, human book I have read in a long while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Death, and Miscarriage

calamitywindpetal's review

challenging sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Racism

taratearex's review against another edition

hopeful reflective 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? No

4.0

I listened to the audiobook for this and it was just beautifully read by Prentice Onayemi, it definitely enhanced my experience reading this book. This was overall very enjoyable and an interesting story that I never really knew where it was going. Following the economic crisis in 2008 through the perspectives of two families, a white family working on a Wall street and an immigrant Cameroonian family who work for them was a unique angle to tell this story and it kept me interested. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Drug use

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug abuse, Death, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse

remie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

annreadsabook's review

emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

4.0

Jende and Neni Jonga recently immigrated to the United States from Limbe, Cameroon, in search of a better life and greater financial opportunities. After a grueling search, Jende lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers (big yike). Meanwhile, Neni juggles caring for their son Liomi while pursuing her dream of becoming a pharmacist. While life is by no means easy for Jende and Neni, their optimism about what the future holds for them in the United States rapidly crumbles when Lehman Brothers implodes, the U.S. descends into a financial crisis, and Jende considers the precarious nature of his immigration status.

Behold the Dreamers balances the optimism that may flow from moving to the United States with the harsh realities of the immigration system, economic strife, and racism. Running through the book as well is an examination of gendered dynamics both in the Jonga and Edwards families, and the reader is directly shown the tension between the myth of a "post-racial America" in the wake of President Obama's election and the very lived experiences of Black people—specifically, Black immigrants—in the U.S. The novel also shows the ways in which non-immigrant U.S. residents are generally oblivious to the challenges and inequities of the immigration system, and how Black people's needs and desires are often set aside in favor of [wealthy] white individuals' interests.

This is a book in which, while one set of characters is certainly much, much easier to sympathize with, none of the characters are terribly likable—but Mbue constructs these characters well despite their lack of likability because none of the characters fall "flat" in terms of their complexity. The one thing, however, that was a bit strange to me was a particular plot point that felt rather sudden, forced, and unrealistic given the character’s traits (IYKYK). 

I definitely enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to reading Mbue's new book, How Beautiful We Were!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Grief