Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

فرانكشتاين في بغداد by Ahmed Saadawi

22 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I must confess, I was never a huge fan of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I reread it over and over again in high school and college, and I could never get into it. Something about the text was too dense and archaic for me to connect to - which is not normally a problem I have with classics.

When I came across Frankenstein in Baghbad, I thought the concept of a surrealist look into early Iraq War era Baghdad was an interesting concept, but I was skeptical that I'd find the same stumbling blocks with this version as the original. After all, it takes place in a time and setting very different from my own, just like Shelley's original.

But Saadawi's work is different. I realized pretty quickly that this book is much, much closer to my time and place than I thought it would be. It demonstrates, with an unparalleled hand for metaphor, the monster that is the cycle of revenge which makes up the wheels of war.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Body horror, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Police brutality, Classism, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual harassment, Car accident, Sexual content, and Suicide

-Suicide bombing, explosions -Corpses -Mutilation

delainey5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.5

im not sure that I understand the ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Body horror

Moderate: Police brutality, Misogyny, Death, Murder, Alcoholism, War, Violence, and Child death

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Police brutality, Medical content, Alcoholism, Murder, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Medical trauma

tashtasher's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Torture, War, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Physical abuse

draven_deathcrush's review against another edition

dark tense 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

2.5

I'm obsessed with Frankenstein now and I thought this would be like a retelling, but it wasn't really. It didn't really focus much on the actual Frankenstein part, which is completely fine, but I just thought/hoped it would. It's a good book, but I just had different expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Police brutality and Gore

Minor: Sexual content

woweewhoa's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: War, Misogyny, Ableism, Body horror, Animal death, Police brutality, Violence, and Fatphobia

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

toffishay's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of my favorite books of all time and I am so intrigued by how stories that we know can be reimagined and adapted to analyze different fears and different times with different actors. In the case of Frankenstein in Baghdad, the tale of a Frankenstein monster is not used to expose fears of science and paternalism, but of exploring violence and the impacts of war, religion and spirituality, and identity and purpose. All that I didn't like was that I would have liked more exploration of the female characters who have interesting stories, but not as much time on the page and some characters get a lot of time, but little payoff. I think that if you are interested in horror and a reimagined classic, this is certainly worth your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, Body horror, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, War, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Excrement and Religious bigotry

lizlikesfrogs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality and Alcohol

cviii's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Violence, War, Classism, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia and Stalking

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

As a retelling of Frankenstein and its philosophy - who is the monster, what does it mean to be a person and to purse justice, how do you reconcile your past with your future, the balance of nature vs nurture - Frankenstein in Baghdad did a good job. 
I can see why people think it's brilliant and how it won awards, but for me personally, it's fine as a novel. Nothing too special in my reading experience. 

As with the original, the monster is the most interesting character and we never get enough time with him. There are a lot of tangents and other character povs, which may be annoying to some readers. I enjoyed how all the characters added to the sense of place and time and the exploration of the American invasion of Iraq and subsequent impacts of war on society. However, this detracted from the framing device of the monster - an extra 20-30 pages with the monster's perspective would've been great. 

My favourite characters were Hadi (his story and resolution made me so sad) and Elishva, whose enduring love for her long lost/dead son was bittersweet. I do wish there were more female characters pov than just Elishva, who was painted as the "crazy old woman." Mahmoud - my least favourite and most common pov - had a really awful perspective on women and "love" (aka obsession) that was delusional, disrespectful, and all too common among many men. He frustrated and engaged me as a character. 

Overall, an interesting and thought-provoking read that probably won't stick with me too long. I'm glad I finally read this off my shelves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Grief, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Torture, Murder, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual harassment