Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

32 reviews

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

17-year-old Bitter has grown up in different foster homes and has never felt safe. Now she's got a place at Eucalyptus, a private boarding school for young artists. Here Bitter's gained both friends and safety. But outside school there are riots and demonstrations in the town of Lucille, in protest against the great injustices. While Bitter doesn't want anything to do with the revolution, many of her friends are more active. She soon feels torn between staying within the safe walls of Eucalyptus and her wanting to help her friends. What price is she willing to pay?

A prequel to the wonderful "Pet", and I loved it just as much! It takes place before "Pet" and we get to follow Jam's mother Bitter. Her background and how she met and fell in love with Aloe, Jam's father. We also get the whole revolution that is mentioned in "Pet", and what role Jam's parents played in it. I would say you could read the books in whatever order you like, but "Pet" was written first, if you want to read in publication order.

There's a lot to like about "Bitter": the characters, the language, the diversity. I also like the message that violence isn't the solution in conflicts, and that not everyone needs to stand on the barricade or the frontline, but they still have an important role to play. This is a young adult book that many adults should read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

re_oanslay's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.0

After Pet blew me away, I was hoping for more from Bitter. It wasn't bad by any means but they are very different stories. While Pet explores an individual story of failure in an overall good society, this explores how to find your place in a broken society working to get better. I think the use of angels works better in the first, but fill an interesting role here. I do love Bitter herself and seeing how the other characters were as children. I also liked exploring the role of art in revolution and how different people can provide different good works. I liked Miss Virtue but didn't think this aspect was as strong as it could have been. I kind of just want to read Pet again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

therewillbenewsuns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this even more than PET, which I really did like. It’s tricky reading books that relate to revolutionary practices— are the ideas in the book a reflection of the author or the characters? Or both? Just interesting questions that I ask when reading books of this genre. Although, it’s hard to limit this to one singular genre. Like Pet, I was drawn to the blurring of reality and fantasy. I found that this was better paced and detailed than PET. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.5

For some reason I was sceptical that I would like this as much as Pet but I absolutely did; perhaps even more. The discussions in this book were genuinely so necessary and powerful, but also handled with an incredible nuance. There were conversations about responsibility to make change, when you should prioritise yourself, whether eventually peace is worth present violence, etc. I loved Bitter’s character and the friends she made. The representation, as always, was fantastic. This was a great prequel, and I think this duology is a must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child abuse, Medical content, and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

WOW wow. this book has such diverse and well rounded characters. the story is interesting and has very important underlying themes. i didn’t realize this was written after Pet but i recommend reading this first for some world building and a linear story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Trafficking

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Prequel to Pet (which I enjoyed more than expected). Once again I loved the characters and Emezi’s writing style! I also enjoyed how the story showed the power that young people have plus the great look at how everyone can do their part in their own way, and the burnout that activists can experience.

I didn’t love it quite as much as Pet, I wasn’t pulled in the same way and I listened to it while multitasking so that could be why. Overall a powerful story with well developed characters!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

TW/CW: violence, police brutality, blood, death, murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Blood and Murder

miniingrid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

Si os ha gustado Mascota, tenéis que leer Bitter. Y si no habéis leído Mascota, no sé a qué estáis esperando.
Es duro, pero no se recrea ni hurga en el dolor. Y te recuerda que la esperanza es una disciplina, es algo que se tiene que trabajar y por lo que vale la pena hacerlo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Child abuse and Child death