Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

5 reviews

orlagal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

theelizabethjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

If you have been or are depressed and suicidal, please read this carefully. It does not glorify suicide or death but has deep conversations about it and the longing to not exist. I was in a good headspace when listening to it but I could see myself being pushed closer if I had been in a bad headspace. Gorgeous book, we need more like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs, Vomit, and War

jazhandz's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.75

I’m a big fan of Kaveh Akbar’s poetry and a big hater of all autobiographical literary fiction, so this book averaged out to be pretty good, but not great. Some really lovely stuff and some things that didn’t work for me at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Racism, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Vomit

kenrya's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

criticalgayze's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

3.5

MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar was my last read of 2023, which I requested largely based on its striking cover. I was also very interested in the formatting concept of plot, poems, and interstitials as I am finding format to be a bigger draw for me.

I will say there’s a lot here to like. As individual pieces, a lot of this works; however, I thought this was lacking cohesion. While some of this may be impacted by eARC formatting issues, I didn’t think everything blended.

Trying my very best not to spoil, the back third also did not end up working for me. I was more disappointed than gagged.

Finally, for a novel by a poet about a poet writing a novel, I was not wowed by the language.

Overall, I did like this, and please check out the lovely reviews I mentioned earlier!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content