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A review by sarah984
Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
I liked this a lot, but it suffered a bit from inevitably being compared to Pet, which I loved. The writing style in Bitter is a little more grounded, a kind of standard YA writing where the lessons in the text are stated outright. Because this is set in pre (and during) revolution Lucille there are more real-world parallels. Some of these worked for me and some didn't. I liked the characters and the basic outline of the story but things got a bit muddled toward the end for me.
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality
Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Child abuse, Bullying, Cursing, and Death of parent