Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

9 reviews

deanchaudhri's review

challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime, Misogyny, War, Torture, and Death of parent

astridmalmhester's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Torture, Islamophobia, Racism, War, Death, Murder, Violence, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny

msjenne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Racism, Colonisation, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Deportation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexism

carolinalopezwatt's review

challenging informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, and Sexism

Minor: Classism and Racism

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I learned of this book from Sunni @ Van Reads and when she explained that it was a retelling of Antigone, one of my favourite plays, but through the lives of British Muslims, I immediately added it to my list.

Even knowing that going in, it took me an embarrassing long time to pick up on how the story is connected (I really need to reread the play). But once I did, I was blown away, and the way the story progresses becomes a bit easier to stomach because it echoes the original. I do not disagree with those who are angry and disagree with the ending, though.

I think knowing that it’s a retelling, and knowing the source material, does help to piece this story together, particularly in reference to the above. The main antagonist in Shamsie’s story echoes the ‘villain’ of Antigone but with the context of the modernized story, it is a bit awkward that one man comes to stand for all of Islamophobia when we as readers know it’s not that simple to pin down to one person.

My final thoughts on this one were that it was depressing and infuriating and still an incredible retelling. I still want to seek out more reviews by Muslim readers as the book stirs up a lot of Islamophobia – portrayed as wrong but still a constant throughout the story. It’s certainly not a hopeful picture for Muslim communities as so much of the content is focused on the threat of jihadist movements and anti-Muslim sentiments in government so I wouldn’t be surprised if some choose not to pick this one up at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual content, and War

k_aro's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

I don't even know how to rate this book... first, that it's a modern retelling of Antigone. Nobody ever told me this! I've never read Antigone so I never noticed the similarity (unlike with Six Crimson Cranes, where I absolutely noticed the similarities). I think a reading of this book would definitely be helped or at least be more fruitful knowing some of Antigone.

That's neither here nor there; I feel strangely fulfilled by this book. It absolutely ends on a pretty desolate note (maybe one helped by knowing how Antigone is supposed to go?) and I felt strangely untethered. As a child of an immigrant (though a Chinese one, so I am absolutely not trying to say that these stories are necessarily comparable) there are definitely parts of this story that hit too close to home; the internal struggle between loving your parents and hating what they might stand for, trying to be radical and forward pushing but always with one hand on the railing.

It definitely explores the role of loss well; actually, thinking about it, this sort of reminds me of another book I had read (but had not enjoyed, at all): Consent. The confusion over how a lost thing is supposed to take up your life, a missing gap.

I was really compelled by Parvaiz' chapters, which

Spoiler

made me think a lot about the nature of pain and punishment, and how pain seems so holy just by virtue of suffering. I don't know, something about how Parvaiz is continually drawn back to Farooq despite or maybe because of the pain Farooq inflicts on him...

Anyways, it's definitely a good book. But I don't know how to recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol and Death of parent

laura_jayne's review

challenging reflective sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture

besan's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Sexual content

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

Touching and sad, this book examines the bonds of family and true love. This book explores perspectives that I hadn’t ever considered and highlights how we can be coerced, manipulated, or confused into making choices that no one else understands or supports. Shamsie beautifully describes the grey areas not understood in the black and white of the current sociopolitical world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia