Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

55 reviews

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

libbyyjo's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

isadowski's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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

4.5

Dit boek heeft me laten huilen, geïnspireerd en zo veel geleerd over iets waar ik zo weinig van wist. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

this book was beautifully written; i highlighted so many passages. the story was beautiful as well, it told the reality for so many, and is a really important piece of modern literature as to the syrian war and the struggles of those who leave their homelands, everything they know, after countless unimaginable loss, living in inhumane conditions, seeing monstrous acts, living under the constant threat of death and worse, and then risking their lives and spending all they have, being taken advantage of for the chance of a safer life, only to often arrive in countries where they are seen as a nuisance.
this book is so important and everyone should read it!
aside from the real-world connotations, the fictional story was beautiful

i fell in love with salama and kenan and their loved ones. when we found out that layla wasn’t real: i have not been that shocked by a twist in i don’t know how long, i had not seen it coming at all and it was genuinely heart-wrenching. i appreciated that the ending was “happy” but it didn’t shy away from the long lasting effects of the everything they had been through

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Kidnapping

rosinawrites7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Clear motivations of characters made the plot satisfying. Descriptive memories really filled out the main characters. For my writing I wanna remember:

link between Layla’s painting and the sea scene at the end was cool. And can I use Khawl’s character for My Friend Anxiety?

 

Twist with Layla was great and never saw it coming

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

stindex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chelsea0694's review against another edition

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail

lightltup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I love and hate the author for the emotional turmoil she put me through with this book. I was in a constant state of stress until the very last page and I love her for it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

🍋

Salama Kassab is a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom break out in Syria. She lives with her parents in her home that she shares with her older brother, Hamza, who dreams of securing residency at the local hospital as a junior doctor.

Now, Salama volunteers at at the same hospital in Homs, treating the wounded who flood through the doors in their masses everyday. Secretly, Salama yearns to escape her beloved country; circumstances have made it unsafe moreso for her best friend and sister-in-law, Layla, and Layla's unborn child. 

Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country, leaving behind her home, her family, her history and identity and escaping to a land of strangers, the treatment there unknown, crossing turbulent waters, with no guarantee she will even reach her destination anyway. When she crosses paths with a boy she was meant to meet one fateful day, Salama starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

🍋

This was a enormously moving and very difficult book to read but one that is all the same instilled with hope. That's the message that the author wanted to convey. I would urge everyone to read it, checking the trigger warnings beforehand, but it really is important that everyone reads this. I am angered, upset, ashamed and broken. Before reading,  I couldn't imagine the experiences and human emotions faced by casualties, victims, orphans, the displaced and survivours of lands torn by conflict, the nature of the world we live in results in a degree of separation but - #LemonTrees comes closest to it. Each page paints a very vivid reality before your eyes. We owe it to them to know their story and urge others to make themselves aware. As much as this is a YA novel, it deals with mature topics with poignancy and is certainly not a tale of fiction.

With respect, the rating is only for the platform otherwise this is beyond a rating and I laud the efforts of #ZoulfaKatouh at writing an impactful, heartfelt and heartbreaking debut. 

💔 " I'll tell God everything"
💔 "The thing is hearing about the ocean's rage is different from being caught in the middle of the angry waves"

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape