Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

62 reviews

katreena's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

From the very first page of this book I thought the writing was breathtakingly beautiful. My opinion on this never wavered as the author used such powerful imagery and expression of emotion.. I was very thrown off by the incest and the language around the relationship did not let that dynamic fall to be forgotten.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Blood

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.25

The ending of this def made me cry a little. It was also a reveal I wasn't expecting. I really enjoyed this book for the complexities of the characters and how the story was structured. I also listened to the audiobook as I followed along with the physical book and the narrators were great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Blood

midslibrary's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Hate crime

kjofalltrades's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse

barium_squirrel's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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

Moderate: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

sara_berlin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

I found this book to have a less avant-garde style than some of Akwaeke Emezi's other books, but still with their unique flair, which I always love. It also fit into my accidental reading trend of gravitating toward perspectives that I don't often hear, which definitely applies to mainstream American literature and queer Nigerians. For both of those reasons, I really enjoyed the story, despite it's clear tragedy. The Death of Vivek Oji deserves to become a classic. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Transphobia, and Death of parent

flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

tea_kettle's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

amazing story, beautifully written, and one i would read again despite the heartbreak. However, the mildly (and later very graphically) incestuous themes were pretty uncomfortable to get through, and i don’t think they necessarily needed to be that way. Still, it was a great story, and i’m glad it was told, especially by a writer so skilled. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Transphobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Deportation

angiepoggi's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

The Death of Vivek Oji not only depicts mourning in a beautyful manner, but also brings us, the readers, into that mourning as well.

Vivek's death is not only about the act of not ever being able to breath anymore, it's about the death of who his family thought he was, and, as well as his birth that was accompanied by grief, about her rebirth.

It's such a carefully woven story that never let's go of the nuances of every decision and thought of It's characters, who, if you told me were real, I would've believed without sparing a doubt. 

Even thought there were some relationships that I have conflicted feelings about and believe could've been brought here in a different way, I'll still cary this story for life and think about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

chekwube's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was wow…just wow.
Started and finished it in the same day, not just because it’s a shorter book but because it was that good. The plot kept thickening, we kept learning more about the characters and it just altogether built in such a beautiful way. Akwaeke really keeps you on your toes throughout itching to understand the characters more and understand what exactly led to the death of Vivek Oji. It was amazing.
It was also very challenging because you rarely ever find books that make you really think about issues critically and challenge your set-in-stone ideals. This was one of those books and the whole time, I felt like I could relate with and connect to the characters.
Also the ending was literally spectacular. Like wow. Everyone should read this book. One critic said you leave the book feeling wiser and empathetic and I definitely agree. 
This book made me think a lot about the things people are going on beyond the surface that we really don’t see.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis