Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

45 reviews

amgarrido's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I have no words - I have been trying to think of a review that will do this book justice in the two months or so since I finished reading it but can’t.

I continue to be equal parts devastated and enamoured.

I strongly recommend you watch Chimamanda’s interviews about ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ on YouTube if you’d like some additional context, or want to understand how her family’s reality enmeshed with creative licence and imagination to create this novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

eelizard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

laedyred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book requires an analytic, critical lens of a literature student to get the most out of it. The prose can drag at times but this isn't exactly an action-packed story. The horrors of the Nigerian civil war are on full display. Besides the two women protagonists, I hated every character. Men are truly the scum of the earth. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mimio_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

jj_99's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, and Classism

bethtrigg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

kmnva's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.75

This was so challenging. I had to stop listening several times as it was so heavy. I can’t even begin to fathom what it would be like to experience any of it. 

I questioned life, meaning, love, friendships, parenting, sex, forgiveness, discrimination, death, trauma and grief. All these topics were explored in a way that was jarring. But not in a way that felt like it was just for shock value. 

The timeline shifting probably serves a purpose that eludes me, but is the only reason I gave this a 4.75 instead of a 5. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more in print form as it would’ve given me time to absorb certain names and places and find meaning in the timeline shifts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Violence, and War

feebles640's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Excrement, Vomit, and Alcohol

nanc_282's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

Using different narrators, the story recounts the experience of people living through the rise and collapse of the state of Biafra in the 1960s. It is educative about the ideals that led to the formation of the state and harrowing in the account of how the subsequent war effected their lives. Powerful and well-written it offers insights into the experience of conflict through different eyes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Grief