Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

96 reviews

syd_reads_occasionally's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.25

Really provocative portrayal of a tragic hero story. The world building is detailed and interesting.  The last chapter was a work of genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death, Slavery, Colonisation, and Blood

zoegg's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

2.75

i really enjoyed delving into the world of igbo traditions and culture! although i felt like the story took a bit to get to the main source of conflict, i feel like the contextualization in the first half was necessary to truly and thoroughly understand just how disruptive the colonial presence was to what had existed prior. that being said, my main hang up with this book was okonkwo. his abusive, aggressive, and short-tempered nature towards his wives and children made me feel very disconnected from him as a character, and at times, made it difficult to continue the story. however, even with my dislike for him, it was easy to sympathize with his anger towards the christians and their usurping of his beloved village’s culture. it made me often think of modern day missiontrips — are they connected to the colonial roots of religion as depicted in this book??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexism

Moderate: Violence

gabriella_'s review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

3.75

This book has a lot of casual sexism but aside from that, the writing style was gripping, the plot points interesting, the plot progression heartbreaking, and it was a real page-turner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

dreamwifu's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

this was a school read, but it was truly so interesting until it came up to the second half of the book that made my brain hurt a little. i was so interested and immersed in the culture, but the colonalism aspect truly ruined such a beautiful story which i guess was the point of adding it. the end was actually a great way to end this, so i still think of the book highly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Colonisation

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Gun violence

abmochapman's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

“A man's life from birth to death, was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors.”

Things Fall Apart remains a literary masterpiece almost three decades since its release. At first slow and meandering, offering a survey of Igbo culture prior to the devastation of British forces, this novel shows just how quickly and suddenly a people can be made to fall apart when faced with colonial rule and violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Animal death, Colonisation, Racism, War, Slavery, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Child death, and Violence

lilahs_literacy_corner's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

eleek0609's review

informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and War

ashleymg99's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a book that I somehow missed reading this in my high school English curriculum. I decided to finally pick it up for the StoryGraph read the world challenge, and because one of my friends said this was their favorite book. 

I can’t recommend the Crash Course video on this book enough- after reading it, it enhanced my understanding of text and provided a lot of additional context, that I will summarize below: 

Chinua Achebe was uniquely positioned to tell this story because of his background. With a  father who was an evangelical Christian and extended family that was part of traditional Igbo culture - he offers a criticism of European colonialism that neither demonizes nor exhalts either culture. It’s a wonderful first-hand account of the customs of the Igbo people, and an amazing edition to my read the world challenge! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Murder, Violence, and Suicide

themissyreads's review against another edition

challenging informative tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Look up trigger warnings.
I had to sit with this one a while because i knew i loved the first half (5/5) but wasn’t sure how i felt about the second. A big narrative shift happens. Most of the plot of the first half happens in the course of a couple of weeks or months at most. The second half covers ~10 years and the time skips and exposition is such that we lose contact with characters and their relationships which does mirror the effect of colonialism on the community. I get *why* in that sense, but parts of the second half felt rushed and maybe underdeveloped where the first half was SO illustrative and intimate. So I didnt enjoy the second half as much. I took my time, annotated, took notes on the first half but made almost no marks in the second, if that tells you anything. I’d still reccomend, its a quick read just definitely mot your Why Colonialism is Bad 101 bc thats not what the book is going for. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Colonisation, Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, War, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

nkmustdie's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Xenophobia, War, Deportation, Gun violence, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Rape, Suicide, Bullying, Confinement, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Violence