Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

15 reviews

macklyle's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

3.5

This was a different read from my usual, but  I am glad I picked up. Being that it is Ramadan, I wanted to read something related. I learned a lot about not only what it means to be muslim, but to be muslim americans.
 In many ways i felt like I was reading my boyfriend’s life on paper… it was comical at times the stories Anvar shared I swear i’ve heard before! 

cons- it was a really slow story line and often felt like it wasn’t headed in any direction. i struggled to read it at my normal reading pace because I felt really sad most of the time reading Safwas POV. - my heart hurt the whole time and it made me have to take breaks. 
pros- felt like an authentic depiction of what life and religion and family often looks like for immigrants and muslim families. I was educated and informed in a way that was easy to understand and empathize with by how the author writes. 
lots of little life lessons through out that i loved 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Death of parent

nicole_lb's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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

This was a great audiobook! The voice actors were amazing for the story!
A recommendation: Don't listen at 1.5x speed at the end of the book - There's a lot of intense things that happen that the increased speed makes EXTRA intense, ha!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence, Animal death, Physical abuse, Islamophobia, and Death of parent

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

lindsloveslit's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

The beginning part of this book gave me such high hopes. So much so, I thought it was going to end up being my favorite fiction of the month. In it, two immigrants, one Iraqi and one Pakistani, have a coming of age story full of moral dilemma. IMO, none of the characters were likable. There were a lot of quotable snippets, but, ultimately, I was left wanting more character development and storyline and less romance. 

The quote that sticks out most to me, happens to tie in nicely to The 1619 Project, which I just finished :
"We live on stolen land. In a country built on slavery and reliant on the continued economic exploitation of other people. The oppressor always lives in fear of the oppressed. Americans have always been afraid - of those native to this continent, of Black people, of Japanese citizens they interned, and now of Muslims and immigrants."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child death

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

stephanywrites's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Islamophobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective tense 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

I liked how funny and vibrant the characters were. The character arcs and themes in the book are very lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Torture, Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Terminal illness, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Alcohol, Colonisation, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, and Misogyny

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

perfect_leaves's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Hate crime, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Pregnancy

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