Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

3 reviews

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

madlads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

It is hard to capture my feelings about this book - maybe I will come back and share more thoughts when I've processed a bit. 

I am close to someone who experiences dissociative identity disorder, and while I don't want to compare their experience to a culture/ontology/spirituality I know nothing about and the parallels and contrasts therein, I will also say that this book was both incredibly profound and challenging to read, due to how closely it seems to reflect some of my friend's experiences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Homophobia