Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A History of Burning by Janika Oza

4 reviews

brogan7's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.5

The story of lineage, of how families and people move and suffer losses and are torn from their lives and try to do better for the next generation.  The characters are very vivid and the story is truly heartbreaking.

I would put it in a category with Half of a yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, or The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna, or Pachinko by Min-Jin Lee...even Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.  (And like Homegoing, I thought parts of it went by too quickly, I wanted more time with the characters.)

The only drawback I would say comes towards the end, when it feels like the telling frays a bit, the utter clarity falters, and I had trouble believing certain parts of it, as well as feeling like the author wanted to make certain connections that were more ideas than following the characters' development.  

But overall, an excellent read and some characters and life situations not to forget: Parbhai and Sonal, Rajni... The horrors of Idi Amin and the costs of white supremacy, visited differentially on different races, in different times...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and War

Moderate: Death of parent and Genocide

lorenag5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, Police brutality, Classism, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and War

internationalreads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Hate crime, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia

hannia222's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Classism, Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, and Deportation