Reviews tagging 'Death'

Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

13 reviews

nehaanna's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

beccasteinbach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

cassielaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow, this one was tough. Beautiful writing about some heart-wrenching subject matter. Through the death and destruction around them, the three central sisters shine, each with her own unique story, personality, and perspective. Their families and friends are wonderful characters as well, and each approaches the challenges that arise with goodness and perseverance. It was super interesting to learn about a period of Indian history I was unfamiliar with, especially as told through the lens of these stories. For a short book, it has a lot of moving parts, but the important themes and threads are carried throughout and resolved nicely.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism and Suicidal thoughts

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Set during India's Independence (1946-1948), this tale of three sisters had me hooked from the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

evawondergem's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, and War

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

someryarns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

bookshelf_al's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Rape, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mroth's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

I really liked this one. Some Little Women-esque vibes where the sisters start out as almost caricatures but become well-rounded—I could empathize with all of them by the end. I think Divakaruni did a nice job navigating the complexity without villainizing anyone

except Mamoon

but also without resorting to platitudes. A very propulsive read, while still having a lot of substance.

I didn’t love how sad the end was but can understand it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War

julianh's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookcoyote's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

TW/CW: Violence, death, murder, death of a parent, sexual assault 

REVIEW: Independence is the story of three sisters who try to go their different paths during the years of Indian independence and partition. 

This book was beautifully written, there is no doubt about that. The author does a beautiful job of creating her setting and her characters, and of pulling everything together to make a powerful narrative. The way she combined history and the narrative was really engaging. 

My biggest problem with this book was that every one of the sisters keeps making the stupidest decisions and it was incredibly frustrating to read! I couldn’t make myself really like any of them because I just wanted to scream at them over what was clearly going to be an enormous mistake. And…they almost always were. 

This is a very sad, very frustrating book and while it’s very well written, it’s not a pleasant book to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Death of parent