Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

10 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Islamophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, and Racism

Minor: War, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Grief, Misogyny, Torture, Sexism, Cursing, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Animal death

fmostafiz's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed reading this. It was an interesting piece on religion & very reflective.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Islamophobia, War, Violence, Physical abuse, and Rape

lisvaldez19's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: War

peachani's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Islamophobia, Terminal illness, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Torture, and Medical content

brittneyreads's review

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

This book had a lot of great commentary about how the US treats the countries they're occupying and the immigrants within its own borders, especially Muslim Americans. The writing was also really well done. Masood definitely knows how to tell a story. Besides that, this book did not work for me. 

It tries to have a discussion about Islam and being religious, but it didn't feel like it had any nuance to it. Like at all. Almost every single character who was religious was played off in some negative light. Anzar, one of the main characters who is pretty anti-religion, doesn't have one well spoken discussion about religion with anyone. It's just him thinking that being religious is, not necessarily bad, but, like, irrational or something and anytime a conversation sorted of started to discuss religion, he just shut it down and walked away. 

TBH, I could not stand Anzar one bit. Throughout the book he was a condescending asshole who seemed to exist to be the "smartest" person in the room and to rile everyone around him up. I have met guys who are exactly like him and they were the most unpleasant people I have ever had the misfortune of talking to. And the worst part is he went through no character development. There was one point where he had a conversation with his professor where his professor basically told Anvar he was a condescending asshole, and I was hoping this would the start of some inner reflection for Anvar, but he dropped the class and shrugged his professor's words off and never thought about it again. 

I wish this book would have focused more on Safwa who had actual hardships she was struggling to persevere through. Her disillusions with religion were understandable since she really only experienced religion through the violent men around her who used it as a way to control her. I wished we got to know her as a character more, and got to explore the complicated thoughts and feelings she had about the world around her and herself. It's really too bad that her story was often overshadowed by Anvar's.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

wee_ramekin's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, and Xenophobia

silversparkles50's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Violence

sallysimply's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-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

Wow, what an unexpected gift this is! I got this book on a whim, mostly tempted by the beautiful cover. This story is gripping, the characters complex, the emotions raw, so much of it relatable, and somehow satisfying even though it isn’t really hopeful. This book acknowledges life for what it is, particularly the state of the world and being an immigrant in the U.S., and it’s hard to find hope in that. But there is still beauty and tenderness and love, and that’s not nothing.

I cried a lot and I laughed even more (Anvar is hilarious). I am grateful this book exists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Infidelity and Cancer

caidyn's review

emotional 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

4.0

This is a difficult coming of age story. Two Muslims who grew up during the real rise of Islamophobia in America and immigrated there during that time. It's a hard read about the realities people face. I really enjoyed this book, although it was hard to stomach at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Violence

introvertinterrupted's review

challenging emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Islamophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Stalking, Gore, Death, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Torture