Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

15 reviews

babsbee's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-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

4.75

I got pulled into this novel from the first page, and I stayed up late way too many nights telling myself I'd read just a few more pages. There were so many times reading the story of Akorfa and Selasi (and the various other people around them) that I wanted to scream my rage at the people who kept trying to silence them, to remind them that they should not bring dishonor or embarrassment to their families. A look into racism (for Akorfa in the US), into a corrupt government trying to silence Selasi when she stands up for another young woman (in Ghana), dealing with deaths and abandonment of family members, and the rape they both experience made me so angry for them. But yet, Akorfa and Selasi (especially Selasi) also gave me hope. They are strong women and they know their strength and will not be silenced. 

It's a challenging read but also a very fast one, and one that I highly recommend for everyone to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abandonment, Abortion, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Racism, Grief, Misogyny, and Rape

readalongwithyasmin's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, and Classism

amy_park's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

Read this book via audio and really enjoyed the journey and writing style. We follow two cousins in Ghana for a span of 30 years and the fallout of their friendship break down and how their lives progressed separately and finally join back together. This book is very emotional and passionate which really resonated within the audio book.
 I liked the originality of the book being separated by the first half being told by Akorfa and second half from Selasi's perspective. I found it engaging and having both perspectives you really digged deeper into the characters and storyline.
Many heavy areas were explored, which emotionally drew me in. I would read more from this author and definetly would recommend reading via audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Abortion

emziesreads's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Rape

jouljet's review

challenging emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Grief, Medical content, Racism, and Sexual assault

alisonannk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Classism, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Rape, Abortion, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Police brutality, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

tiamia1084's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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: Death of parent, Classism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racism, Bullying, Misogyny, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

Such a good book! Picked it up randomly at work because the cover was pretty but this book was so good! At times very frustrating to see how the two main characters that such different lives and yet had gone through many of the same struggles. They were bound from speaking of their experiences because of tradition, family honor, class, societal pressures, pressure from corrupt government, racism. This was such a complex and multi-level story. It was so good so so good.

carolines's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

 Nightbloom is the story of Akorfa and Silasi, cousins so inseparable when they were young girls that they were more like sisters or best friends. But then circumstances changed, they changed and their bond that was once so strong frayed and eventually broke.

The storytelling was wonderfully engaging and the structure, whereby we first learn Akorfa’s story and then Silasi’s, was really effective at highlighting how no one person necessarily knows the complete true story, and that different people can interpret the same information in totally different ways. As a reader I thought I knew what story this book was telling, but adding Silasi’s perspective which included new information, meant the actual story was very different from my first impression.

In many ways this was a difficult book to read. Not only does it deal with child sexual abuse but the casual way the children were neglected, abandoned, emotionally abused, held responsible for the actions of adults, and used as pawns in adult disputes was really confronting. I can only hope the featured behaviour isn’t the cultural norm.

The story was rich and layered, exploring so many additional themes - racism in America, sexism and misogyny, political corruption in Ghana, family structure and dynamics, intergenerational trauma, class, wealth, personal and cultural values - yet they always felt intrinsic to the story; never heavy handed nor shoe-horned in.

The characterisation was excellent. Both Akorfa and Silasi as well as many of the minor characters leapt of the page - flaws and all. And all the characters were flawed. Many grew over the story, some more than others, yet their essential temperaments, personalities and associated flaws remained, which added to the authenticity in my opinion. Which brings me to the ending. It may not necessarily have been realistic and is definitely not to be recommended or emulated. And yet in the context of the story I could totally understand the reasoning and may even have cheered silently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death of parent

arsenelouppain's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a finely-crafted narrative with vibrant characters that popped off of the page. They were all so full of life and emotion, even those with minor appearances.

It was intriguing to see the same set of events unfolding from two different perspectives. Peace Adzo Medie did an excellent job of creating realistic protagonists that were sympathetic despite their faults. Though I do wish there had been more distinction between their unique voices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Classism, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship