Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

5 reviews

srcreads1's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual violence

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

This is quite a provocative book.  It is narrated by Darling, who, throughout most of the book, is a tween living in a Zimbabwe slum in the 2000s, having been displaced from her modest home by paramilitary violence.  She and her friends process their reality through play and antics, which include the game “Find bin Laden,” a reenactment of a community member’s murder, and a near-attempt at a coat hanger abortion.  When Darling moves in with her aunt in America, she discovers that many cultural differences cannot be translated and yearns for her beloved homeland, to which she cannot return, lest she be trapped.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Abandonment

lace_daisies_and_mary_oliver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide attempt

literaryliaisons's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Mass/school shootings

mmatti300's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I read this book for school, so it's a little difficult for me to fully rate this book as I think I may have enjoyed certain pieces of it more if I wasn't coming at it from a purely analytical standpoint. At first, the lack of quotation marks bothered me as it seemed to make the story a little bit more confusing than it needed to be, but I actually think this was a really interesting choice by Bulawayo to make the text read more like an oration than a novel. I do think it was an extremely thought provoking and enriching text and am excited to discuss it with my class as I think they will provide some interesting perspectives. However, I felt like Bulawayo almost did too much for how short the novel was. This book is only 292 pages, with relatively big font, and yet she tackles:

coat hanger abortions, AIDS, ineffectiveness of NGOs, Starvation, class conflict post decolonization, anorexia in America, overeating in America (in a way that I found almost extremely fat phobic/ said in a way that was unnecessarily derogative), difficulty of immigration, depression, joining the army, family asking for money, porn addictions from a young age, teen angst, the list goes on

This was probably not actually spoilers, but just in case. I think that these were important things to tackle, especially in the context of immigration and Zimababwean culture, but it also felt way too rushed for me and like I didn't get a second to process what she was saying before another thing came at me. Perhaps this was on purpose, but it really took me out of the story and made me really hate the main character, Darling, who we want to connect with and love at least in the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia