Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Evil Eye

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

89 reviews

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

I knew this book was going to wreck me, especially after reading A Woman is No Man but reading this, which followed many of the same themes but also many new ones of A Woman is No Man, was such a emotional rollercoaster. I'm going to need everyone to pick up a book by Etaf Rum (preferably all of them). The way that Etaf can create a story of women, especially daughters of immigrants, who come from a background of such pain and grief is something I think everyone needs to experience. Her works are literally indescribable.

Yara, I saw so much of myself in her. How her anxiety would manifest, how once she gave words to what was she feeling, only then was she able to start on her journey of healing and acceptance. I'm so glad that even though Yara had poor therapy experiences prior to Esther, she did not let that dissuade her from going back and trying again and realizing the importance of having someone to talk to. When Esther said: "There is no hierarchy of pain when it comes to traumatic experiences." I wanted to reach into the book and hug her. She was not the perfect therapist but she is one that helped Yara come to terms with how she had been living her life until that point and how she can make it better for herself and her daughters.

Every time someone asked if she had someone she could talk to or rely on and she would reply in the negative was such a gut punch. That loneliness is so visceral and it crept up on her before she knew it. But how she became more open to letting people in, even unwittingly at first, had me smiling through my tears.

I know my words and review will never be able to do justice to the way Etaf wove such a heartbreaking yet restorative story of breaking generational cycles and realizing that while you have such immense privilege that others prior to you and adjacent to you do not, you are still valid in your feelings and your grief.

Content Warnings

nithya_natalya's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Trying to read more books by Palestinian authors, and this one showed up on a few lists of recs. I'm not normally a literary fiction fan, so I struggled through this. So much of this book is Yara's inner thoughts, and not a lot of plot. Normally, I would hate that. However, I'm giving it 4 stars though because it made me cry multiple times, and the fact that it brought such strong emotions at me means it was doing something right. I saw myself and my family in Yara's experience. I also am a sucker for storylines involving platonic love, and there was a great friendship in this.

Content Warnings

arand's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

jennireadsmaybe's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

How do I write a review for Evil Eye? How do I capture how much this book means to me?

Evil Eye follows Yara, a Palestinian American woman, who after marrying and leaving her conservative family behind in Brooklyn is seemingly living the dream. She's gotten to do everything that her mother never could. She's working at a local college, married to a nice man, and raising her two daughters. Everything's great. Except it doesn't feel like enough.

Etaf Rum is a forced to be reckoned with; there's no other way to put it. Evil Eye explores generational trauma, motherhood, depression, friendship, and the deeply personal desire to be loved by the people around us. It's a hard read, but a necessary one in my opinion.

There were so many lines throughout the book that were a punch in the gut. Rum's writing is at once beautiful and harrowing, but I never find myself lost by it.

Content Warnings

koiolee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book has a purpose. But it's not really my cup of tea. I normally love books about marginalized communities fighting what they know to move forward, change, heal, but this book felt more like a therapy session than a story of healing. There are long segments of typical therapy advice, stories, jargon, that makes the book drag on. There's metaphors that the author tells you explicitly what they mean, instead of an implicit nod towards. It feels like you're dumbing it down for your audience, when your audience is likely college-level, college-educated, media literate readers. You're writing for a small audience, when your actual audience are more or less people like me.
EDIT: It gives Catcher in the Rye vibes omg.

Content Warnings

amyjo25's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

kjofalltrades's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

ka_schulze's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I found this book incredibly affecting. Yara's sense of loss and instability really resonated with me, and the themes around generational trauma and an enduring sense of wrongness got to me. I felt attached to Yara from the beginning; Rum does a phenomenal job of explaining how Yara's depression showed up in her body, how she tried so hard to be a good mother and good partner, and how she had no safe place to land. Her friendship with Silas is really beautiful, and the journey she goes on feels so rewarding. As with A Woman Is No Man, Rum's depiction of patriarchy and sexism and stifling family expectations is truly devastating, and her examination of how we can have empathy for our mothers while wishing it had been different anyway really hit me. This one will stay with me.

Content Warnings

papayat's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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