Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Darius the Great Is Not Okay

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

61 reviews

callmeluh's review

emotional informative inspiring 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

So. I expected this book to hurt, and it did. However, I didn't think it would hurt this much. I've rarely cried this much while reading a book, even more so if it's the first book in the series (which is the case here, I just found out).
The different conversations on depression turned me into a sobbing mess (well, not just these conversations tbh lol). As someone who struggles with depression, it's so nice to feel seen and understood.
Yes, this book hurt, but it also brought me a lot of comfort in a sense, as it made me feel less alone.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay is about depression, but also about belonging and finding your place in the world. It's about reconnecting with your roots and learning about where you come from. It's also about friendship and family. It's the kind of book you wish more people would read, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

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ok7a's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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decklededgess's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.0

trigger warnings: clinical depression, bullying, racist harassment, suicide ideation mention, cancer

This book...is the first one in a long ass time that got me to cry without warning. I was enjoying this quite blandly over audiobook, ya kno, something to do while driving to and from work and BAM I get to the end and WATERFALL. No warning.

It's an incredibly written book about identity in multiple senses of the word, and struggling to grow up while dealing with clinical depression. I loved the handling of clinical depression, family and ethnic identity struggles as a biracial person in America, and a strained father son relationship.
Darius's struggles were so earnest and painful and the slow build of stress really hits hard at the end.

Looking forward to sobbing more in book two.

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malloryfitz's review

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3.5

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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izzybell's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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taelights's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

I was surprised how much I loved this book. Darius developed so well throughout the book and I loved seeing his journey and him grow as a character. The book made me laugh at parts and cry at others. Getting to see Darius make his first best friend, become closer to his family, deal with depression, expierence a new place/culture, and see him and his family deal with the impending loss of Darius' grandfather was such a bittersweet and emotiona journey to read about but so enjoyable.

Darius as a character is a bit cringey a times with some of the things he says and thinks but overall I ended up growing to really enjoyed him as a character.

I was a bit disappointed that this is marketed as a gay book but the gayness was so subtle it was nonexistent. Darius never says he's gay in any way and the hints at him being so are so subtle that I probably wouldn't have picked up on them if I hadn't gone into this knowing that Darius liked boys.

It's a beautiful coming of age story with a focus on family and friendship. It's definitely worth the read but if you're going into this looking only for gay content you might leave disappointed. The sequel from the description looks like it's actually explicitly gay though so I'm looking forward to reading that!

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