Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

37 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I almost DNFed this several times but stuck with it to see all the ways it ties to Pet. But most of the major characters besides Bitter herself bugged the crap out of me. And idk what message Emezi intended readers to take away, but the one I got sits poorly with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Police brutality, Self harm, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Child abuse

city_girl_writer's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Homophobia

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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: Police brutality, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

mar's review

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, and Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Ableism, and Death of parent

armontheroad's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

As someone who fell in love with PET, BITTER immediately went onto my list for the most anticipated 2022 releases!! I was worried going into this because I saw a *lot* of criticism for this book. However, after finishing it, I disagree with a lot of the negative things people have to say about this work. In my opinion, Akwaeke Emezi does not ever disappoint with their novels!! This was not a book that was ‘fun’ to read, by any means, there are some triggering topics discussed within this novel. However, I think the way the conversations are talked about is brilliant and that the book was one that I could not put down! There seem to be some adults who think this book is “too smart” for teenagers and I just don’t think you’re giving teens the credit they deserve. I could talk about BITTER for ages, but to save time and energy I’ll leave this review short.

CWs I can't link below: conversion therapy, depression, sex trafficking, etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Murder, Police brutality, and Racism

overbooked207's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

📖 Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi Book Review 📖

1st book of July 2022 and 15th book of the year:

This was such a powerful, fantastic, and relevant book and prequel to one of my all-time favorites, Pet. You don’t have to read Pet in order to understand this book, but I highly recommend doing so anyway because it's also such an amazing and important book. I loved that we got to go back in time to see the events talked about in Pet in this book and follow Bitter’s story this time, and it felt more mature and heavier than Pet. The writing and world-building are always phenomenal in Akwaeke Emezi’s books, and this time was no different. The themes/topics that the book brings up including revolution, healing, generational trauma, mental health, found family/coming together as a community to help each other, using art as activism, the cycle of violence, and more are all super important to talk about nowadays and always, the making it a book that I think absolutely everybody should pick up. The audiobook was also done beautifully, and it felt more mature and heavier than Pet, which was already dealing with very heavy subject matter. I highly recommend reading this and everything by Akwaeke Emezi, and I am absolutely in love with all of their book covers! TW for blood, death, self-harm/cutting, police brutality, racism, homophobia, war, hate crimes, dissociation, panic attacks, gun violence, gore, fire/fire injury, vomit, ableism, injuries/injury description, abuse, abandonment, mention of the death of a parent, mention of rape, medical content/trauma, eye mutilation, body horror, mental illness, child abuse, and grief📚🎨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racism, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, Vomit, War, Child abuse, Death, Ableism, Rape, and Violence

sadiefc's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Police brutality, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and War

readingpicnic's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Violence, Death, Abandonment, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, War, Homophobia, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, Body horror, and Infidelity

karcitis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Classism, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Excrement