Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

126 reviews

tea_kettle's review

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

4.75

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

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

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

blavikenbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Infidelity

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

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

Minor: Rape

machenn's review

mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Transphobia

al_owl's review

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-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

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Blood, Child death, Transphobia, Homophobia, Grief, Incest, and Infidelity

shoohoob's review

dark emotional tense 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? Yes

3.75

Beautifully written book. I flew through it and the characters were fascinating to me. That being said, the incest was really prominent and almost made it DNF. 

Spoiler

I’m not really sure why Vivek and Osita couldn’t have just been close childhood friends instead of cousins. Maybe it was just supposed to add to taboo life Vivek was living, but it was really uncomfortable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Incest, and Homophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Blood, Infidelity, and Outing

mandi_lea's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Grief, Transphobia, Sexual content, Blood, Dysphoria, Incest, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

pitayacactus's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

I loved just about everything about this book. The story, the storytelling, the relationships between characters, the writing style. It would have been 5 stars had it not been for the incest and grief driven infidelity (I don't enjoy incest or cheating but the rest of the book was good enough to not make me dnf.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Incest

Moderate: Infidelity

quidproqueer's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual content, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, and Infertility

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? No

4.75

 Akwaeke Emezi is a masterful storyteller and writer. Every book they write is a gift to experience, and this one is no different. The last 20% of the story, in particular, made me sob. The entire novel has such a a deeply lyrical and emotional story about the way we relate to others and how well we know the peiple we live. I think we can all see ourselves in the characters with their emotional depths. Akwaeke is so talented at describing grief and making that raw, difficult emotion something they can communicate through their stories. It is such a talent.

The book is heavy in many ways, so please be mindful of the content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Sexual content, Grief, Medical content, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death

For context on the incest tag:

Spoiler

The incest takes place consensually between cousins.