Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli

27 reviews

holliejoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Eating disorder, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

badmom's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Simply put - this is a deeply beautiful account of the vast range of emotional reactions to suicide, and the disparate forms love & support & grief might take. Our narrator is understandably distraught over her husband’s death; his mother’s response, extreme in its ugly vindictiveness, is also shown to be understandable, in a way. Everyone in Q’s orbit is shaken by his death but shows their sorrow in different ways, leaving his widow feeling even more unmoored as she tries (or doesn’t) to find a path forward. 
We are treated to the sweet and sometimes bittersweet history of this couple and with that we see the unfolding of characters that reveals layers of relationships. Nwabineli’s writing is subtly astute in the ways it shows growth in even the slightest of characters - she makes us notice everyone and compels us consider their stories within our own stories while allowing connections we might otherwise resist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Medical trauma, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug use, and Vomit

Minor: Gaslighting, Car accident, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

christopher_shiprack's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide

ttnnllrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is about our main character, Eve, and her life after discovering her husband’s dead body after he took his own life on New Year’s Eve. Nwabineli really shows the reader the true, raw grief of losing a loved one, in ways I’ve never seen before. It’s horrible, awful, and gut wrenching, but so incredibly insightful into one of many ways grief can transform us. 

At the beginning of the book, Eve spends much of her time in bed and the rest throwing up in the toilet. She binge drinks and takes pills to keep her from the waking world, only to be haunted with nightmares about her husband Q, and her guilt for being unable to save him. 
We witness a loving, close knit family surrounding and supporting Eve every step of the way, no matter how many times she tries to push them away or cling too close. 

Eve’s mother in law, Aspen, who had already shown hatred for her simply because she is Nigerian and not the ‘rich white girl’ Aspen always wanted Q to marry, blames Q’s death on Eve and will not rest until what remains of Eve’s life is set aflame. 

Then, everything changes.

Eve gets in an accident and discovers that she is pregnant with Q’s baby. She must now come to terms with her future as a widow and a single mother, and get her shit together for her kid.

This book was hard to read at times, the grief truly just oozed off the page and Eve’s decision were sometimes hard to get behind. Another reason was the fighting between Eve and her sister, Gloria, because while I understand, I also don’t know how you get mad at someone who had just lost the love of their life to something so brutal as suicide. Like I said, it was frustrating at times, but I also think that’s what makes it a great representation of grief. It’s never meant to be light and easy, it’s hard and ugly and at times violent. 

I really appreciated the ending as well, because while it’s not quite a happy ending, per se, it’s clear that it’s headed in that direction at a realistic pace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Mental illness, Racism, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.25

From the very beginning, this book hits you with the harsh realities of grief and it just keeps it up. I loved how real and raw the emotions and thoughts were as well as the sprinkling in of humor. I listened to this on audio and the narrator was fantastic. There were a few points when the characters' actions didn't really make sense to me, or just didn't sit right. Overall, a very good read.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Pregnancy, Racism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

isabelsophiex's review against another edition

dark sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Death, and Blood

catwhisperer's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Death, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

yinkao's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Self harm

currently_introverting's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

rockin_robyn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcohol, Grief, Pregnancy, Racism, Blood, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm