Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

5 reviews

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This book exemplifies what a mythology retelling can be - by transporting Sophocles’ Antigone into the present day where the characters are no longer Greek royalty but instead British Muslims, Shamsie gives the myth clear relevance to today’s society, all while staying true to the plot and retaining the themes and conflicts that make Antigone so timeless. The complex moral issues in this book are discussed with such empathy, so that even when characters make decisions one may not agree with, one can understand why they might be driven to do what they do. Antigone is one of my favourite plays, and this book captures its essence perfectly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Violence, and Sexual content

Graphic depictions of terrorist organisations

noahsingh's review

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Grief, Islamophobia, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Murder, War, Deportation, Misogyny, Police brutality, Abandonment, and Suicide

Minor: Child death

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

meenakshisathish's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Islamophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Sexual content

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