Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé

11 reviews

august_goldfischer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

gellyreads's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

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

2.5

I don't know if this book just isn't for me or if I wasn't ready for it. I had so much trouble following the plot and who's POV it was, despite this being a quick read (I essentially read it in one sitting, which I wonder if that lead to my trouble). The concept and the mythology is really interesting, I just couldn't connect to a single thing that happened. I may try to re-read this in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

loesm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

‘Creatures of Passage’ by Morowa Yejide is a gripping novel that utilizes folklore and fabulism to explore one family’s struggles. 
Nephthys drives an old Plymouth Belvedere around town, picking up people that need to go somewhere and ferrying them to their destination. Feeling lost ever since her twin brother was killed, she has drifted away from her family, her niece Amber who can see visions of people’s deaths and Amber’s son Dash, who has begun seeing visions of a man down by the river. When Amber sees a vision of Dash’s death, their three stories begin to intertwine back together. 
Yejide utilizes folklore and fabulism to explore the very real struggles of one family and the ebbs and flows of familial relationships. The story winds between different characters so that we get time with all of them as we begin to understand more about how they relate to one another and the world at large. On top of the main characters, we also follow Osiris, Nephthys’ twin brother as he moves through a murky afterlife as well as the antagonist of the novel. Yejide’s lyrical prose as well as the distinct characters that populate this story make this a memorable and affecting tale as we also learn how the characters have impacted their wider community. This book deals with a lot of difficult subjects and there is a very large trigger warning for child abuse. Some of this book was very hard to read but all of the pieces come together to tell the full story of this community and this specific family. Harrowing, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all in one, ‘Creatures of Passage’ is an excellent novel that showcases the real talent of Yejide. I am fascinated to see what she writes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

ogik's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and War

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and War

thogek's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Creatures of Passage is an unusual novel in today's landscape, but one I'm glad I got to experience.

The cultural background formed by mostly Gullah peoples making (or perhaps passing through) their lives in the poor DC neighborhood of Anacostia in what feels like an alternate-universe version of the United States but sometimes doesn't, woven through with various elements of what might be called urban fantasy or magical realism but so smoothly so that every weave clearly belongs right where it is, and told from a richly fluid word-of-mouth storyteller-historian point of view that here and there touches on the poetic, all delivers a rich story experience built on top of what it otherwise a relatively simple story.

Creatures of Passage is just different and odd enough that I don't know that I ever would have found it myself if I hadn't happened across its foggy blue cover in a LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway. I came to much appreciate my seconds minutes hours with it, though I had no way of knowing this at the time...  ;-)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cursing and Suicide

lianne_rooney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Racial slurs, Grief, Car accident, and War

caffee'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Beautiful writing but so depressing, cycles of abuse and despair that's unrelenting, although it's finished well I'm still left feeling tainted. I'd read what she writes in the future if the premise is more optimistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment

feebles640's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug abuse