Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Thirty Names of Night, by Zeyn Joukhadar

12 reviews

hmstaab's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Death of parent

Moderate: Deadnaming, Dementia, Dysphoria, Animal death, and Death

noah_silver's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I liked the two interwoven timelines, the development and growth of the two main characters & their different voices, the different kinds of queerness coming up during the story - and the focus on & omnipresence of birds in the lives of the characters.
However, at some points I found it a bit slow and am still confused about some turns of the story. It might be due to listening to it as an audio book and maybe not catching everything. I was also not completely convinced of the audio book narrator's styles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Racism, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Child death, Transphobia, and War

Description of menstruation; gyn appointment

mscalls's review

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Body horror, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Animal death, Body shaming, Hate crime, and Injury/injury detail

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Racism, Medical content, Transphobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Islamophobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual harassment

rorikae's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

'The Thirty Names of Night' by Zeyn Joukhadar is an exquisite story about identity, birds, and belonging.
The story weaves between two narratives. The first follows a Syrian American trans boy struggling after the death of his mother. Longing to be his full self, he paints murals at night. One night he comes across the journal of a Syrian American artist who may have encountered the same rare bird as one that his mother saw as well. Haunted by the ghost of his mother, he searches for what happened to this artist who disappeared years ago. As he searches for what happened to her, we also get to experience her journals and the story of how she came to America and became a painter. As both stories progress they become more and more entangled. 
Joukhadar's storytelling is beautiful. His prose is lush, conjuring up the worlds of both of his protagonists. We come to fall in love with the birds that Nadir and Laila experience as we also come to care deeply for each of the characters. They stand as one of the incredibly strong parts of this book. Flawed and deeply human, both are searching for where they belong, parallel stories across time. 
As someone who loves birds and art, Joukhadar does a wonderful job of painting a picture with his words that makes the reader feel as if they are right beside the characters. This is truly a beautiful book and one that I think everyone should read. The audiobook is phenomenal and the two narrators do a great job of capturing the emotions behind both of the characters. I will definitely be checking out more of Joukhadar's work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Deadnaming

Minor: Sexual content

jojo_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, Injury/injury detail, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Cancer, and Homophobia

Minor: Transphobia, Deadnaming, War, and Dementia

lauraglovestoread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

The Thirty Names of Night is stunning -- beautiful writing, well structured, nuanced and well-developed characters and a clear setting.  The story alternates between two perspectives -- that of a young Syrian-American trans man living in contemporary-ish Little Syria in NYC, and that of Laila Z, a Syrian American artist who painted and drew birds and who disappeared decades prior.  Both are written in second person, with Nadir addressing his deceased mother and Laila Z's chapters in epistolary format.  This book had me in tears more than once (in the best possible way), and Joukhadar has handled many themes here -- immigration, loss, xenophobia, the pain of contorting oneself to fit gendered expectations, struggles with religion, grief, internalized and external trans- & homophobia, family (birth and chosen) -- so beautifully.  I am immensely grateful to Zeyn Joukhadar for this book, and look forward to reading more from him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: War

seawarrior's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

This is such a beautiful book. Multiple times I re-read passages to ensure I fully absorbed their words and weight. The pages shine with poetry and reflections on grief, and end more rewardingly than I had dared to hope. I highly suggest reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Dementia

baponthecob's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Dementia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

dosymedia's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness and Dementia

Minor: Deadnaming and Animal death