Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

25 reviews

mappy's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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

What a phenomenal book. The breadth and ambition is astounding as Bulawayo successfully paints a picture of the terror, hope and complexity of a dictatorial regime, a corrupt revolution, and the effects of a colonial past - both at a societal level and for every individual.

What stands out is the role technology plays in liberation, religion's place in the toolbox of oppressors, and how a regime cannot prosper without the support of those who are the long hand of the law. The narrative voice embodies the oral tradition of those who dream of revolution and the power of grassroots action in communities that have endured so much.

This is dark and challenging, but often entertaining in its satire. While not my highest rated, and having read only half of the longlist so far, Glory is my pick for winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction. It would take a powerful contender to usurp its position at the top of my list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Suicide

sharpenedknives's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Classism

Minor: War

tarajoy90's review against another edition

challenging hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

foreverinastory's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Glory is an allegory of Animal Farm set in the historical background of the Zimbabwe revolution (1980s-2019). We follow various animals as they fills roles of historical figures and we see how dictatorship follows the patterns laid out in Orwell's fictional piece.

This was a very compelling and emotional story. I loved the way repetition and humor were used as tools in the narrative. The audiobook narrator (Chipo Chung) was absolutely incredible and brought a rhythm to the story with the way they repeated words with various intonations.

Bulawayo did a beautiful job of crafting this intricate historical fiction. I am glad I read this immediately following Animal Farm. Such an interesting juxtaposition. There were so many characters followed in this story, but I was most invested in Destiny's and my heart felt all the emotions. *insert tears*

Rep: All Zimbabwean cast.

CWs: Violence, genocide, war, rape, police brutality, murder, colonisation, death, gun violence, grief, misogyny, sexual assault, torture, blood, classism, sexual violence, religious bigotry, sexism, injury/injury detail, child death, gore, physical abuse, racism. Moderate: suicide (off-page action, on-page mention), xenophobia, mass shooting, death of parent, animal death, body horror, cursing, homophobia/homomisia, slavery, panic attacks, fire/fire injury, vomit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Colonisation, and War

orla_h's review

challenging funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and War

olivialambert97's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

 Powerful and poetically written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and War

mariah_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

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

2.0

This was a hard read, but I also learned a lot and it forced me to educate myself. It needed to be cut by 100 pages, and maybe should have been short stories. But there were gripping vignettes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and War

differentsisters's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

 I see what the author was trying to do. Once I got use to the inclusion of Zimbabwean dialect, the book was readable. What became tiring was the heavy heavy use of repetition (a whole page of just the word take). I could see why some uses of repetition was used, but it became tiresome and felt like an editor needed to cut at least a hundred pages of repetition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

ynotlime's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Homophobia