Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

18 reviews

witchythey's review

reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is an excellent narrative, beautifully woven. it tells the story of a man whose life is fueled by anger and power, but who is clearly tamping down some very tender emotions. his relationship with his daughter ezinma was one of my favorite dynamics in the book; the gender roles within their family are so interesting and complicated. achebe beautifully illustrates the village's rich cultural and religious traditions, as well as okonkwo's place within those systems. the book grapples with many serious topics and the elders often offer timeless wisdom. this was a very enjoyable and thought provoking read, if a bit dark

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide, War, Racism, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Infertility, and Murder

allysllvn's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I found this book really interesting and intriguing. There’s many heavy topics, but how they were handled and seen in the community was interesting. The ending is as definitely… something. It was jarring and sudden, but I believe that was the point, even if it felt as if the ending had been broken off to me. Overall, I enjoyed reading it :).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, and Suicide

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, War, Infertility, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Gore, Animal death, and Gun violence

dank_pikachu's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, and Child abuse

michaelion's review against another edition

informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Through the entire first section of the book and the first chapter of the second section, I just kept thinking: Misogyny will be the death of men. At least I thought that's where the book was going. It should've went that way.

There's something I hate, or dislike, about classic books which is the tendency to have unnecessary filler pages. Like they were getting paid by the word or something. And I say filler specifically because I love me some slice of life stories. I'm the kind a girlie that absolutely lives to see people figuring out what food they're gonna put on their grocery list because they don't know what to make for dinner, okay? But most of this book is just filling the pages up. Now I haven't read enough classics to say all of them do this, but I hate it either way. Scenes and moments with almost or literally no importance to the rest of the story. Maybe I hate it so much because that's how I wrote stories when I was 13. But hey I'm over it now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Violence, War, Animal death, Drug use, and Racism

Minor: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Slavery, and Miscarriage

luluslittlelibrary's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I had to read this book for school and it overall, wasn't my favorite, but I am glad that I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

book_lover69's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Infertility

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child death

Minor: Death of parent, Murder, and Gun violence

adoras's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent

abigail_spencer's review

emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I wanted to like this book but I just found it upsetting to read, the women are treated despicably and the central character is difficult to empathise with or like. What i did enjoy was the lovely insight into culture and the overarching themes but I detested the m/c being such a chauvinist and sexist person. In addition the end of the book made a wonderful point, i just wish i could have had this heart-wrenching story from the perspective of a character who wasn't so detestable that it distracted from the bigger  issues. The misogyny is so overwhelming without seeming to criticize anything or prompt you to question things, for example one of the women is not even given a name beyond 'Nwoye's mother'. It talked about terrible things without really seeming to care that they were terrible.

Overall, excellently written but I couldn't relate on any personal level due to how unpleasant the main character was. Not sure why Achebe chose to write about such a character, but then again im not a literature student or expert so decifering that is better left to someone else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Suicide