Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

12 reviews

oftalone90's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

An increasingly relevant story, interestingly told. Each chapter is split into two times, joined by a single word. This book is well written and demonstrates the futility of war and the horrors of fleeing a homeland to seek asylum. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Child death, and Mental illness

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, War, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Self harm, Medical content, Drug use, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

gear3232's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

This is one of those books that feels so real that it makes you feel all of the things the characters are feeling. It draws you in. I love the authors choice to write a bit of the present and a bit of the past in each chapter. It helps us to see so much of how these characters change. All of the terrible things that happen are written in such an open and honest way that makes them and the story even more real. This is the kind of book that you remember for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, War, Mental illness, Grief, Genocide, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

leoniefnk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The last quarter of the book saves the slow/confusing beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, War, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death, Rape, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

helliepad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, War, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexism

etl's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Violence, Mental illness, Gun violence, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual violence

Minor: Self harm, Drug use, and Excrement

meremesch's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child death, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Islamophobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Pedophilia, and Rape

samdalefox's review against another edition

challenging sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This is an excellent book for people of Western priviledge to read (meaning: a person from a white colonialist country such as the UK, who has not felt the devestation of war within their homeland for many generations). The book was written drawing on the experiences of real-life Syrian refugees that the author was working with abroad. I think the way this book is written serves to be widely-palletable of the target audience described above. The book describes many of the horrors, humiliations, and tragedies Syrian refugees have faced (and continue to face) on their escape from their country, yet it does so in a santised way. This is both a pro, in that the important messages the author is trying to convey reaches a wider audience. But it's also a con; my major disappointment with the story is that it often felt superficial or sanitised. I could tell it wasn't written by someone with first hand experience since it lacked a rawness you hear in people who have survived life-altering trauma.

Why it is a good book for priviledged white European's to read:

• It paint refugees as humans. There is a strong human element throughout the book, describing people in detail and their connections to their family and homeland (exemplified in Mustafa and the apiary).
• Gives an accurate description of the limited choices people are faced with when fleeing war - known violence and death at home, or unknown violence and potential death as you flee.
• It gives an indication of the types of violences and indignities that refugees face (dangerious travel, traffikers, homelessness etc.)
• It gives an excellent indication of trauma related mental illnesses
  through Nuri's depression, insomnia, and PTSD, and Afra's psychosomatic blindness. I was particularly impressed with how the book dealt with Afra's condition.
• It combats a lot of the diabolical mainstream media bollocks we have in England about refugees. The book highlights just how shit a country we are at supporting and welcoming refugees, this is particularly clear through describing the inhumane asylum seekers' process. 

Overall, a story with poignant messages, but a bit too neat and tidy for me personally. I prefer to read non-fiction accounts first hand from refugees. Below is my favourite quote from the book. It emphasises how inherently nature works together for the greater good, and yet us as humans work against that feeling and each other, creating senseless misery and suffering through war.

 "People are not like bees. We do not work together, we have no real sense of a greater good". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and War

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Child death, War, Death, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Trafficking

Humiliation and belittling experience of the UK asylum seeking process.

kikiweinert's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, War, Pedophilia, and Self harm

spiritualeigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, and War

Moderate: Murder and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault