Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

5 reviews

jojo_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Dementia, and War

seawarrior's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

This is such a beautiful book. Multiple times I re-read passages to ensure I fully absorbed their words and weight. The pages shine with poetry and reflections on grief, and end more rewardingly than I had dared to hope. I highly suggest reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Dementia

cereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

This book has honestly left me speechless.

The prose was so incredibly rich and poetic.  Joukhadar is definitely a master of language: every word he used struck exactly the right cord.

The queer people in this book were wonderfully written - in a very natural, honest but still raw and vulnerable way. Incredible. 

And the story has left me choked up and emotional, in a good way. I immediately want to reread this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

Minor: Sexual content

baponthecob's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, Islamophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, and Dementia

booknerdnative's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is a stunning story about identity and discovering oneself. This book was so reflective and open, and offered some really great conversations. I think this one would be great for book club! I really love books with two storylines and points of view that eventually find a connection point, and this one weaved this connection together perfectly. It was beautifully written, but definitely more consumable than a lot of literary fiction titles I've read. It was compulsively readable, making this one palatable for many readers. Which is great, because I think this will be a really important and eye opening story for so many readers. 

I want to first say that as a cishet person, I cannot directly speak to the experience of being trans and have tried to be aware of that in my review. One thing I really found influential about this narrative, is being able to walk with our protagonist (who is unnamed at the start of the novel), as they discover their true self. I have read more books with trans folks at the center, in which they are more settled in their identity, & I really appreciated this look into someone finding the openness within themselves to be who they are and embrace themselves fully. This book has a lot of inner dialogue, and dialogue between characters surrounding sexuality and gender that I found to be really reflective and important to the overall conversation. I also really love that this book brings to light the notion that we can still be figuring out who we are even in adulthood. There is no timeline to gender, sexuality, or self discovery.

This book also discusses immigration -the cast is multi-generational, mostly Syrian-American, living in post-9/11 New York City.

It's also full of art, nature, avian passion, and beauty.

It has an epistolary element as well, if that's something you enjoy!

I just think this book has so much to offer, and i really hope that more people read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Police brutality, and Grief

Minor: Cancer and Misogyny