Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Brillo by Raven Leilani

73 reviews

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.25

The first thing I absolutely have to say about this book is that the writing is beautiful. There is a sense of realism to every page of the book that really makes the story believable. Edie is a painfully raw and real protagonist with a strong narrative voice that I thoroughly enjoyed, I just wish that she, as a character, loved herself as much as I love her. The book follows her as she tries to navigate her life and relationship with a married older man. A relationship that only becomes more complicated when Edie loses her job and is invited into his home by her paramour's wife. Another character that I really enjoyed apart from Edie was Akila, her lover's adopted daughter.

As for drawbacks to this book, I think that more could have happened in the second half and I'm surprised that it didn't. There was a stretch of pages where it seemed like not much of anything was happening, and though I was never *bored* exactly, I was waiting for the pace to pick up.

Overall, this was a really great, quick read, and if you've been thinking about picking it up, here's your sign!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Murder, Vomit, and War

Minor: Religious bigotry

culown's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

carolinehope96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, and Police brutality

Moderate: Violence and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion and Suicide

jacinderr's review against another edition

dark funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I ended up loving this book!! I couldn’t give it 5 stars because the writing style still confuses me. Some lines that were supposed to be deep just came off as cheesy, and it would be so dry and monotonous by just listing out tasks the character was doing and felt so ??? Boring to read ? But then the author chucked like a million SAT words in there that the writing somehow insulted my intelligence with boring descriptions but also made me feel dumb by using niche words that maybe someone studying Latin could figure out, and this would all be in the same paragraph ??

But the story won me over in the end !!  Genuinely surprised me in a way I never knew I needed.  I can’t stop thinking abt it !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Racism, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Medical trauma

pollyflorence's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

jouljet's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Miscarriage, Violence, and Racism

masscrafter's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This book doesn't make sense. The plot has a lot of holes. The writing is good, but the sentences that make a punch, are just there to achieve that feeling. Nothing goes any deeper, nothing is really explained. People can make decisions, I don't understand, I'm absolutely fine with that, I'm actually very much interested usually. But at least I should be given a convincing explanation for the why. This book unfortunately doesn't do that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Self harm, and Suicide

solasuaine's review against another edition

dark funny sad

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Miscarriage, Suicide, Racial slurs, and Violence

maureen's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

suffocating* I flew through this and it (unexpectedly) knocked the air out of me, I was taken aback by the blunt force of the writing. a contained feeling of shock, delivered with a mellow tone that dulls the impact, softens the blow, it's an oddly captivating debut.

*and sometimes, somehow funny.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Violence, Police brutality, and Miscarriage