Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

5 reviews

lizmarasse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

Beautiful, haunting story - the refugee crisis examined from the perspective of a child. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I am the hopeful, privileged reader, but I didn’t realize until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and War

Minor: Confinement, Racism, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

katreads2022's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? No

3.25

I was pretty underwhelmed by this book. On one hand, the prose is amazing and consistent with American War. And then there’s, well, everything else. The characters are nearly caricatures, none of them truly fleshed out other than the cynical smuggler and aspirational Umm Ibrahim. Both the plot and its cast lack originality and seem to regularly lapse into overdone cliché. The message is strong enough to sustain this book which ultimately fails to innovate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

kassidypf13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Abandonment, and War

devin_reads_books's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Xenophobia, Abandonment, and War