Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

41 reviews

kshy's review

dark informative reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Animal death, Physical abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

bookish_bry's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was pretty dark in a lot of places often in a pretty casual ways. Okonkwo was not a very sympathetic character, but I think that actually served the message of the book well. Even though I wasn't a fan of the main character, I still sympathized with him in the end.

Even though this was a book very much concerned with the clash of cultures, I think that the generational divide between Okonkwo and his father and then Okonkwo and his son is something we see everywhere. Both Okonkwo's strengths and weaknesses were in direct reaction to his father's life and likewise Nwoye's were a result of Okonkwo's.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Slavery, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide, War, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Blood

shannay_05's review

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Suicide

fnreb's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Gore

leahcatching's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death, Colonisation, and Miscarriage

sleepy_yoshi's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

This book is interesting from an anthropological standpoint. I enjoyed learning about the customs and culture of the Igbo. However, as a novel this just wasn't for me. Each chapter is basically a small snippet of their lives before moving on in time in the next chapter to get another little window. Essentially it felt to me like a collection of short stories because of how it's structured and because it has no over-arching plot. There was just no tension, no buildup, just events that occur out of the blue and/or feel contrived.

The character side of things didn't have much on offer either as I personally found Okonkwo to be rather reprehensible. It is very difficult to empathize with a character who in most circumstances seems to be void of any empathy himself. It also was difficult to appreciate the culture at times because it was through his eyes.

I can actually see why it's often assigned to read in Highschool or University because there is an interesting conversation there to be had, but I can't say I personally enjoyed it as a story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Physical abuse and Suicide

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

laurarosessupposes's review

challenging dark reflective medium-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

1.25

Badly written, dull, and depressing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

amberkaylynn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Abortion, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Gore, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, and Misogyny

stephfauteux's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Animal death