Scan barcode
A review by elliottfinch
Brother Alive by Zain Khalid
1.0
DNF: i really wanted to like this book. i liked it at first. the ideas he was exploring in the beginning were interesting to me. i liked reading about youssef, i liked what it was written in the form of a letter. i liked the concept of an imaginary friend that eats memories. i liked the setting. i was excited to get to know the characters. unfortunately i never did.
first of all: i think the writing was alright, but slightly too flowery without purpose. usually, writing that is heavy with metaphor adds to the atmosphere, or at least gives you insight into the characters state of mind. this book didn’t seem to use its style to flesh out its world. i found it strangely wooden. the characters felt underdeveloped to me, there was nothing human about them that made me care, it was all just a dark spiral. i felt like i was reading about people i didn’t know. dayo is smart. iseul is tall and plays basketball and has a nice wife and cute babies. youssef is… who even is he? what does he even CARE about? i spent 200 pages with these people and i couldn’t tell you one beautiful, interesting quality about any of them. in my opinion characters are the foundation of a good story, wanting to know them, wanting to hear their thoughts and ideas and perspectives on the world. there is no one here i care for. they are all strangers to me. all strangers except salim, who i hate with all my heart.
second of all: the plot, from what i read and the point i got to, was convoluted and unbelievable. the villains are like comic book characters, their actions and ideas are comically evil. i felt like laughing at the points that were supposed to be traumatic to the characters inside the story. that’s not great, in my opinion. i normally don’t feel that lack of empathy toward the characters.
last point:
i think this book should have come with a content warning. having your main character sexually assault another character (along with drugging them and taking photos of them) with no warning is upsetting. no matter what the character may have done. no one deserves that. the book seems to expect you to root for salim in this moment, but i felt like throwing up. it was too close to terrible violence that has happened to people i love and care for. i was ready to dismiss that and move forward, thinking “maybe this is just the worst point and i can read more from here that will be less heavy”.
unfortunately, after that salim did more irredeemable things. he tested his own makeshift drugs on animals, and administered them to children.
he killed a baby and a cat. ezra was glossed over rather quickly. not so with the cat. the descriptions of leviathans dead body made me so sad. she was basically the only character that was purely good and loveable. innocent trusting little levi who was sweet to youssef and a loyal companion to salim. that was the point i stopped reading. it wasn’t worth my mental energy anymore. this book made me feel disgusting. i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. i don’t care to learn what happened to the characters, i don’t care what brother is or why he exists or how to get rid of him, i just feel awful inside after reading this. i usually make myself finish books even if i hate them but reading this feels like self inflicted torture. i would gladly use it for kindling to make a fire.
first of all: i think the writing was alright, but slightly too flowery without purpose. usually, writing that is heavy with metaphor adds to the atmosphere, or at least gives you insight into the characters state of mind. this book didn’t seem to use its style to flesh out its world. i found it strangely wooden. the characters felt underdeveloped to me, there was nothing human about them that made me care, it was all just a dark spiral. i felt like i was reading about people i didn’t know. dayo is smart. iseul is tall and plays basketball and has a nice wife and cute babies. youssef is… who even is he? what does he even CARE about? i spent 200 pages with these people and i couldn’t tell you one beautiful, interesting quality about any of them. in my opinion characters are the foundation of a good story, wanting to know them, wanting to hear their thoughts and ideas and perspectives on the world. there is no one here i care for. they are all strangers to me. all strangers except salim, who i hate with all my heart.
second of all: the plot, from what i read and the point i got to, was convoluted and unbelievable. the villains are like comic book characters, their actions and ideas are comically evil. i felt like laughing at the points that were supposed to be traumatic to the characters inside the story. that’s not great, in my opinion. i normally don’t feel that lack of empathy toward the characters.
last point:
i think this book should have come with a content warning. having your main character sexually assault another character (along with drugging them and taking photos of them) with no warning is upsetting. no matter what the character may have done. no one deserves that. the book seems to expect you to root for salim in this moment, but i felt like throwing up. it was too close to terrible violence that has happened to people i love and care for. i was ready to dismiss that and move forward, thinking “maybe this is just the worst point and i can read more from here that will be less heavy”.
unfortunately, after that salim did more irredeemable things. he tested his own makeshift drugs on animals, and administered them to children.
he killed a baby and a cat. ezra was glossed over rather quickly. not so with the cat. the descriptions of leviathans dead body made me so sad. she was basically the only character that was purely good and loveable. innocent trusting little levi who was sweet to youssef and a loyal companion to salim. that was the point i stopped reading. it wasn’t worth my mental energy anymore. this book made me feel disgusting. i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. i don’t care to learn what happened to the characters, i don’t care what brother is or why he exists or how to get rid of him, i just feel awful inside after reading this. i usually make myself finish books even if i hate them but reading this feels like self inflicted torture. i would gladly use it for kindling to make a fire.