Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

74 reviews

mattyvreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Heartbreaking and beautiful. I devoured every word. If all of Akwaeke Emezi's books are like this, she must be one of the greatest writers of all time. One of my favorite books that I have ever read. Incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime and Incest

jmiles758's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

vanesst's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Infidelity, Transphobia, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

mid_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Hate crime

lizziaha's review against another edition

challenging sad

5.0

AKWAEKE EMEZI YOUVE DONE IT AGAIN!! You ever read a sentence and it’s so good you want to eat it?? 
This book deals with some very complex issues and honestly i felt deeply uncomfortable about some of it. But I think that’s part of what made the book so good. It lets you form your own conclusions alongside the characters. It forces you to wade into the nuance and muddy your own moral compass. 
It’s really impossible to describe this reading experience but i want a physical copy in my hands NOW. A reread is imminent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dysphoria

Minor: Rape

micksland's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars

This novel is emotional, dark, and cathartic. It contains several extremely violent and explicit passages which unfortunately relate to story spoilers, but please look up content warning if you choose to read it. It will rip your heart out. Fans of Shakspearean and Greek tragedies will love this modern equivalent.

I am convinced that Emezi's prose is some of the best in the English language. Each sentence is carefully placed and this short novel hits far above its page count. For example:

"Life was like being dragged through concrete in circles, wet and setting concrete that dried with each rotation of my unwilling body. As a child, I was light. It didn’t matter too much; I slid through it, and maybe it even felt like a game, like I was just playing in mud, like nothing about that slipperiness would ever change, not really. But then I got bigger and it started drying on me and eventually I turned into an uneven block, chipping and sparking on the hard ground, tearing off into painful chunks. I wanted to stay empty, like the eagle in the proverb, left to perch, my bones filled with air pockets, but heaviness found me and I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t shake it off; I couldn’t transform it, evaporate or melt it. It was distinct from me, but it hooked itself into my body like a parasite. I couldn’t figure out if something was wrong with me or if this was just my life—if this was just how people felt, like concrete was dragging their flesh off their bones."

So, why not the full five stars? I was somewhat confused by the way that the narration was done. Sometimes it felt as if Vivek's ghost was commenting on the story, and sometimes it was written as if Vivek would have been commenting. It was almost like the novel could not decide if it was literary fiction or truly magical realism. Aside from that, just fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death

reyastray's review against another edition

4.0

very good, very sad, added many content warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, and Murder

turidt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood and Alcohol

booksandteatime's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Transphobia, and Grief

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense 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

Ever since this book came out all I've heard is people wahwahwah about the incest when there is a MUCH LARGER, MORE IMPORTANT THEME AND PLOT POINT to the story. AND!!! Emezi says the two books that inspired this one in the acknowledgements!!! They did the work for you and people still didn't get it!!!! You people make me sick. You lack media literacy, reading comprehension, AND critical thinking skills.

Akwaeke Emezi, the person that you are. You've done it yet again. I can't wait to read all their books. They are truly amazing.

In my notes I put Vivek was her grandma reincarnated. The grandma the baby. This may have been intentional but if it's not I'm saying it as fact!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Biphobia, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Confinement, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Vomit, Murder, and Abandonment