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mandi_lea's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Trafficking
melinajoy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I think Bitter's character is well named. I loved the teacher and the school and the fight. I appreciated hearing everyone's different accents in the audiobook.
The second half of the book was fantastic, the first half was a little confusing learning everyone's names and relationships (not because the names are hard, but because they're all different genders and who's dating who and who is at the school and who is not, etc). But it's totally worth reading.
I love books that teach us about different backgrounds and real life injustices and still pull us into the book as an escape into a different reality. 4.5 stars!
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse
cadence99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Ableism and Fire/Fire injury
directorpurry's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Classism
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
cookiecat73's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, and Classism
Minor: Drug use and Rape
overbooked207's review against another edition
- 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
1st book of July 2022 and 15th book of the year:
This was such a powerful, fantastic, and relevant book and prequel to one of my all-time favorites, Pet. You don’t have to read Pet in order to understand this book, but I highly recommend doing so anyway because it's also such an amazing and important book. I loved that we got to go back in time to see the events talked about in Pet in this book and follow Bitter’s story this time, and it felt more mature and heavier than Pet. The writing and world-building are always phenomenal in Akwaeke Emezi’s books, and this time was no different. The themes/topics that the book brings up including revolution, healing, generational trauma, mental health, found family/coming together as a community to help each other, using art as activism, the cycle of violence, and more are all super important to talk about nowadays and always, the making it a book that I think absolutely everybody should pick up. The audiobook was also done beautifully, and it felt more mature and heavier than Pet, which was already dealing with very heavy subject matter. I highly recommend reading this and everything by Akwaeke Emezi, and I am absolutely in love with all of their book covers! TW for blood, death, self-harm/cutting, police brutality, racism, homophobia, war, hate crimes, dissociation, panic attacks, gun violence, gore, fire/fire injury, vomit, ableism, injuries/injury description, abuse, abandonment, mention of the death of a parent, mention of rape, medical content/trauma, eye mutilation, body horror, mental illness, child abuse, and grief📚🎨
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
karcitis's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Lesbophobia
mars_ira's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Death
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
- BITTER is the prequel to Emezi's YA novel PET, and follows Jam's mother Bitter in the pre-revolution days.
- Given that Bitter is older than Jam was in PET, this novel has a slightly more adult feel - PET felt like a middle grade fairytale, while BITTER is more like a parable from a parallel timeline. It also expanded the world and its fantastical elements a bit, which was great.
- These books would be great gifts for kids interested in activism, particularly around social equity. Emezi has built the world of Lucille to shear down the world's problems to just resource distribution and policing, making these a good place to start. They even name drop some prominent activists from our world (Brooks, Kaba, etc.) to give readers a trail to follow.
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol