Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

14 reviews

omega's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Biphobia, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Medical content, and Grief

feliscatusnum_1's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

egg_apologist's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Dysphoria

hazelbynature's review against another edition

Enjoyed the premise and read 14–39% in one day, but then found I just couldn’t bring myself to pick it back up again over the following week.
It had a very negative tone, with no sign/hope of things improving for the human character. Very detached narrative voice, with lots of foreshadowing for things to get worse without any sign they’d improve.
Due to detachment of narrative voice, struggled to be emotionally invested in the human character.
Didn’t feel like there was really an overarching plot, just following the human character’s life as they lived it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

leechspit's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolute poetry.  A journey with heartbreak and layers of complex thoughts and feelings. Ada is a beautiful character who goes through so much and we are blessed and cursed to read along.
The trauma and transition of Ada make you feel scared, and angry, and mad. I could read this book again and again losing myself in that raw feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

grandiose_r's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Racism, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Outing

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Transphobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bookwormbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is beautifully written and its story is fabulously told. I remain such a huge fan of Akwaeke Emezi’s absolutely stunning work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Self harm

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Transphobia

emily_journals's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-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

4.5

This is a beautifully written partial memoir that I believe will have a strong impact on anyone who reads it. Make sure to check trigger warnings for this one before you pick it up as there is a lot of triggering content, but if you are willing/able to read those triggers this is definitely worth the read. 

I found this to be a very intriguing exploration of identity, gender, and sexuality through the lens of Igbo religion and culture. This book was heartbreaking and profound and is a book that I will be rereading in the future to fully appreciate and absorb everything portrayed in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Outing

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, Stalking, and Lesbophobia