Reviews tagging 'Death'

Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman

7 reviews

shugentobler's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

5.0

This book pierced right through my heart and into my soul. That is all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Islamophobia, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

jayisreading's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

Written with tenderness, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a queer coming-of-age novel that gives the reader a glimpse into the life of a Pakistani American girl in New York City during the 1980s. Throughout this novel, the protagonist, Razia, is constantly at odds with her family's traditional values, especially when she starts to grapple with her queer identity. The novel is as much a novel about being queer as is it is a novel about being Muslim and being a part of the Pakistani diaspora. Rehman highlights the difficulties that many children of immigrant households face in trying to find themselves while dealing with clashes in culture, religion, and tradition. I found that Rehman did a wonderful job exploring the thorniness of it all, and the conflicted feelings that continued to grow in Razia as she grew older.

My main complaint about the novel is about the ending, which I thought was rather abrupt. I felt Rehman could have taken time to build up to the ending she presented, but it ended up being rushed and I felt like I was left hanging.

This was a really great exploration of what it means to be queer, Pakistani American, and Muslim, though, and while some of the characters (including Razia) got on my nerves, I found that I was mostly touched by the earnestness of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

ivanarundaworld's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad 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: Domestic abuse, Death, and Islamophobia

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Pregnancy

bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

I'm so happy to see more and more books about  Pakistani-American published.
I grew was born in the 90s, and reading about gatherings of the aunties, and the young girls escaping away from reading Qu'ran, transported me right back to my own childhood, doing the same things. 
And, Razia's constant fear of being sent to Pakistan and married off, also brought back the fear me and my friends had growing up too, while we did things our mothers didn't approve of. 
Razia's story is so beautiful, and heartwrenching, and most very important. Young, Muslims/South Asian Queer folk are in desperate need representation. And hope. 

Even though Razia's story wasn't really a happy ending, it was still hopeful. I like to imagine that she was able to find her way, and got to live her truth.

 
Thank you, Bushra Rehman, for writing this wonderful story.
I will be reading it again!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Racism

wynnie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death, Outing, Sexism, Bullying, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Hate crime, Pedophilia, and Animal death

carareadsthebooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Outing, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

amobrien's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad 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? No

4.5

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

A beautifully written coming-of-age story about the intersection of identity taking place in the '80s, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is absolutely a book to look forward to (publication date December 6, 2022). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Domestic abuse

Minor: Violence, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death, and Outing