Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi

27 reviews

tina94's review

medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming and Suicide

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

It's a very cinematic book, you can imagine the characters and situations being adapted to screen in a very enriching way. The narration voice is real good in conveying bias and immersing you in the head of each character, the downside in my opinion were the dialogues as they felt too snappy and light in a way that took out from the story. In the same vein, some passages especially on Taiye's story were too concerned with getting woke points for the sake of it; it would've been nice to see the "social justice warrior" aspect play a more active part on the story rather than have it be an accessory in the background. I liked the ending (? it isn't particularly happy but I wouldn't say it was tear-wrenching which was nice given the trend in contemporary lit lately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, Rape, and Car accident

tlaynejones's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Colonisation

lizzie24601's review

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

4.0

This was such a beautiful read. The author crafted these characters and their relationships so beautifully. The only thing keeping me from 5 stars is that I felt the narrative was slightly skewed toward focusing on Taiye, and although her story was really interesting, I would've liked some more details about Kambirinachi's adult life and Kehinde's young adulthood.

As such, Kambirinachi's ending felt so sudden. She JUST reconciled with her daughters and IMMEDIATELY wants to die??? Huh???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

arieloley's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

This book was beautiful and moving. It captured a variety of relationships in a real and devastating light, while at the same time creating hope and love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, and Pregnancy

megwheeler's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction

brogan7's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This book is so sensual - so many descriptions of food--colours, tastes, textures--and Taiye's trysts with various lovers...it's easy to get lost in it in the nicest possible way.  It is the story of two twin sisters, Taiye and Kehinde, and their mother Kambirinachi, who is an Ogbanje (a spirit who dies & is reborn, dies & is reborn & is never quite of this world)...it is about being born in Nigeria and leaving to live in Canada or England or Morocco...it is about rifts and healing.
I was astounded at how much the book reminded me of other books, how it sits in that greater world of West African women's fiction, so for instance, Taiye and Kehinde, the twins with a tragedy, the same as in Taiye Selasi's Ghana must go -- and the woman who leads the narration at the opening of the book is an Ogbanje, as in Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi [a book I couldn't finish] -- and the slightly fraught sister relationship as in Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- and the sensual descriptions, particularly of food, reminiscent of The memory of love by Aminatta Forna...  It felt, in that way, as part of a great chorus, and what a pleasure to be in that world, again.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover Francesca Ekwuyasi has a Canadian connection - she lives in Halifax! - and the book has an extended section set in Halifax, in fact, which felt familiar in a different way, being a Nova Scotian myself (but not that up on the cool places to go in Halifax, some of which may be renamed or composites).
So, a lovely read.
There were sections that I didn't like as well or that left me with questions - at one point Ekwuyasi falls into the Nigerian vernacular, which is always fun but not if you can't make out what the people are actually saying, and without any gloss for those of us not familiar with that accent.  It felt to me like it was so obvious to her what her characters were saying, that she thought the average reader should be able to figure it out...but without a few clues, I'm quite sure I missed bits and I was frustrated rather than educated at that moment.
And I did wonder about the ending -- why did she want to have both a happy and a terrible and tragic ending?  What I mean is, some of the denouement felt so easy and smooth as to feel contrived (wished for, idealized, not real), and then some of the ending felt so horrifying and yet poeticized,

as though Kambirinachi's fate was always to die by her own hand, and this was a glorious moment to choose to do it in--as opposed to the wrenching tear that suicide represents for families and how would you really feel if your mother died the day your child was being born?  Probably not like it was poetic justice.

I also felt disappointed that there didn't seem to be a true evaluation of privilege: the lavish house, the jet-setting all over the world (including by the gay friend--who was such a great character as well--but you know, once he's done with his homophobic family, off he goes travelling all over the world like it's nothing--what about people who struggle with homophobia and class issues?  Who barely scrape by and survive, but no, don't have the means to fly here and there to reunite with their friends for a couple of weeks or go to some new school?)  It felt a little Cinderella-y at that point.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and will look for more by Ekwuyasi in the years to come.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage, Self harm, and Murder

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense 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

What a book! This was such rollercoaster of a tale and definitely in my favourites list. The author managed to twist a corner of my heart with every emotional sub-plot and I am thankful. What a soulful read. So glad I picked it up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia

nodogsonthemoon's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, Abortion, and Outing

sephyhallow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don't think it's a bad book, but for me, this isn't the book it was marketed as being. A beautiful story of three related women, sure - but the supernatural premise underpinning the blurb just doesn't manifest very much, so I was left disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia