Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

166 reviews

richy_qu33r_readzz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

Akwaeke (A-quake-ay they/them) is a beautiful writer with so many turns of phrase that made me pause and chew on, that made me feel seen. They have a brilliant way of describing a situation and linking it to a more general philosophy or way of being “My mother, who felt like a hammer instead of a person” will haunt me for a while as many other passages are still churning inside me. I learned a lot about immigrant life in Nigeria, saw more Igbo reincarnation, and witnessed how life changes a person and how a person changed pushes people away with religion, with secrets, with holding on too tight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Incest, Sexism, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, and Vomit

Favourite quotes:

“If nobody sees you, are you still there?”P.38 “some people can’t see softness without wanting to hurt it.” P.113 “I would say it was too late, but time has stopped meaning what it used to. I don’t mind anymore. I see how things work now, from this side. I was born and I died. I will come back. Somewhere, you see, in the river of time, I am already alive.” P.245

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

nadia's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

This is a very good book. I love the writing and the way the story was told via different perspectives and POVs. It covers difficult and challenging subject matter and it definitely tugged at my heartstrings at points but there was a lil' something missing for me which prevented the book from having maximum emotional impact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, and Incest

Moderate: Violence

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

clariast7's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Grief

dinosher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

This is how Vivek was born, after death and into grief.

Went into this book blind but came out with such a heavy heart, it broke me in more ways than one. It's incredible how the author managed to capture the essence of grief in such a tragic yet gentle way. I'm a very slow reader but with this book, I was just so eager to discover Vivek's story that the pages felt like they were just turning themselves. This book is about the death of Vivek Oji, it's about the life he has lead before, it's a story about Vivek Oji. At the same time, it's so much more than that, it's about all the people that love him in their own ways, it's about all the ways they tried to protect him, it's about who they thought he was. 

How could he be gone when he'd overtaken us so completely while he was here?

The combined amount of chapters we get to venture inside Vivek's mind are limited. Instead, we get told who he is through the perspectives of other people. We slowly uncover the truth about the what happened on the day of his death while venturing deeper into all the moments before his death, we get to see all the memories that made Vivek.

They barely understood him themselves, but they loved him, and that had been enough.

All the characters felt like they were jumping off the pages, bursting with their own personalities and stories, you could tell that the author wrote them as individuals and not just side characters. I felt especially connected to the women in the story, they were not just wives, they were also mothers, sisters, daughters and survivors, every one of them were once bright young girls as well. The author really expresses how such a conservative community tears people apart from the inside out in the most brutal way, with beautiful prose. 

I know what they say about men who allow other men to penetrate them. Ugly things; ugly words. Calling them women, as if that's supposed to be ugly too.

Vivek's story was just heartbreaking to read, how he must've suffered when he was forced to hide his true self in such a restrictive community, to hide his happiest side from his parents. The rage when Vivek's mother finally uncovered this side of her child, how was she supposed to deal with the knowledge of having to mourn someone who was so familiar yet so unrecognizable? The way acceptance of Vivek's death was found in in end was just gut wrenching. Vivek was truly loved, no matter who he was.

I want to thank him for loving me.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence

Minor: Miscarriage

froggin_around's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Violence

Moderate: Incest

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

brynalexa's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.5

I went into this book blind but pretty sure I’d love it. Love is the wrong word but it was very easy to get through  (wonderful formatting) and extremely well written. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail