Reviews tagging 'Death'

Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah

6 reviews

nodogsonthemoon's review

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

careinthelibrary's review

slow-paced

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

2.0

I liked Halima as a character, she was funny and intelligent. But so much of the book was chapters from Jacob's point-of-view which I found irritating and boring in their rigid religious content and perspective. His character is static and doesn't grow or change much at all during the novel. 

Interesting premise and subject matter but the meat of the story was barricaded behind flowery writing making too many allusions to the Bible. Rounds out the story to being just okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Islamophobia

aguattery's review against another edition

challenging slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

I wanted to like it so bad but I really really disliked this book and can't figure out why. Finishing it feels the a feat. I know that at least part of it is because the narrators were insufferable but there's got to be reasoning beyond that that I'm struggling to identify. I think it may have been boring?

I did appreciate some things that I would consider "risks" that the author took: filling in fiction around a true story and using journals/unreliable narrators. I also liked that the themes surrounding colonization and imperialism were clearly there without being overtly obvious. Makes me feel like I'm thinking critically to connect the story to real life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

telemesmerism's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexism

lenaricharz's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Slavery

tina94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Slavery and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation