Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

6 reviews

aceofknives's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Sexual content, Cancer, Outing, Addiction, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Deportation, and Drug use

Minor: Car accident, Classism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Cursing

joisaddler's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Murder, Violence, Deportation, Racism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

beautifulpaxielreads's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

4.0

Only This Beautiful Moment (OTBM) by Abdi Nazemian is a beautifully written novel that to me is about love. Romantic love, yes, but also love of family, community, and culture.

I read this novel in three days which is extremely rare for me, and I kind of wish I'd taken more time to fully absorb all the points Nazemian was making in what for him, is a deeply personal story.

The novel is narrated by three young men from three generations of an Iranian family: Moud, an out gay Iranian-American in 2019, his father Saeed, an Iranian engineering student sent away for his safety among growing calls for revolution in 1978, and finally, Bobby in 1939 - a young man who has no idea of his heritage, and whose American stage mother is determined to turn her handsome son into a movie star.

Aside from love, one of the main themes of OTBM is about injustice and the many forms it takes, and the difficulty of fighting that injustice when the odds are stacked against you. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, sexism, xenophobia - Nazemian touches on all of these issues, some more briefly than others but nevertheless still impactful. It also talks about the blind spot that exists in Western society when it comes to people of different ethnicities, depicted here in the conversations between Moud and his American boyfriend, Shane.

Shane - whose family has accepted his sexuality with open arms - cannot understand why Moud's father is uncomfortable with Moud being gay and doesn't seem to grasp the nuances of Iranian LGBTQIA+ folk carving out meaningful lives for themselves under an authoritarian regime that would rather they didn't exist.

A minor criticism I did have was that there were times at which I felt a disconnect between myself and the main characters like I was viewing them from behind a glass wall. However, that may have been because I was reading too fast to be able to process my feelings properly.

This was a stunning, important read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deportation, Hate crime, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: War and Colonisation

Rampant homophobia, including one character who is initially very homophobic. Use of the "p*nsy* slur. A significant portion of the novel is set in historical and modern-day Iran, which is under authoritarian rule and has an appalling human rights record, particularly against women, children, and LGBTQIA+ folk. In Iran, same-sex relations may be punishable by death.

aus10england's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow, what a breathtaking inter generational story. The switches of perspective were super fascinating. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, War, and Homophobia

Moderate: Outing, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Blood

Minor: Violence

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Hate crime

Moderate: Drug use

Animal death (additional information):

the dog does not actually die but the mom lies and says he does to force tears

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Bullying, Infidelity, Sexual content, Racism, Grief, Police brutality, Suicide, Xenophobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, War, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexism, Violence, Death, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol, Deportation, Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Colonisation, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Cultural appropriation, Addiction, and Blood