Reviews tagging 'Death'

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

40 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

reflective sad tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

Like anyone who has seen the movie Titanic and has a morbid fascination with this history, I was drawn to Luck of the Titanic after learning that there were Chinese passengers onboard and wanted to explore that. 
The book started off well with a dose of the reality for folks of Chinese descent in the Western world during this time but had a dash of playfulness thanks to the creative license Lee took in making the MC a trained acrobat. As the story progressed, I started to feel like the choices Valora made didn’t really seem feasible. Her “disguise” didn't really work for me but I decided to stick with the story anyway. Like the Titanic movie, the book focuses more on the journey before the disaster so it starts to speed up about 80% of the way into the book. I found the ending pretty disappointing. I had hoped that Lee would bring us into the experience of these folks after this tragedy and I didn’t get that. 
If this doesn’t bother you, then you may still enjoy this book for it’s effectiveness in getting one to think about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how Chinese people were treated at the time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Confinement, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

emilia_thereader's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexism and Death of parent

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Confinement and Sexual assault

ravensandlace's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense slow-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

Title: Luck of the Titanic

Author: Stacy Lee

Genre: Historical Young Adult

Format: hardback library book

Star Rating: 2.5 stars

tw: parental death, alcoholism, racism, sexism, death, drowning, drug use

I feel so bad that I didn’t like this book. I’m also disappointed that I didn’t like this book. I have been kind of obsessed with all things relating to the Titanic. I’m not sure why. Sometimes, I get on these kicks. Like right now, it’s Pokemon. So I thought that I would like this book considering what it was about. 

I had a pretty hard time relating to Val, the main character. She’s British Chinese, which I think is awesome. She just really grated on my nerves. I felt she was more of a child than 18 years old. Val very much wanted it to be her way or no way. I understood that she wanted to be with her twin, Jake, but at the same time, she has to realize that Jake wants to do his own thing. He’s allowed to have friends. That part really irritated me. She got upset that he had made friends while he was away on ships. Val just needed to grow up.  

The plot also moved incredibly slowly. There were a lot of day-to-day activities and a lot of Val’s thoughts that took up a lot of page time. The main event, which you all know what it is, doesn’t happen until there are about 100 pages left. It felt super rushed and I was a little confused about what was going on for most of it. Plus the ending made me so mad. I won’t say what it is because of spoilers but let’s just say it’s not a great ending for me anyway. 

Overall, this book left me frustrated. There were a couple of positives, though, that I’ll share. There was a map and diagrams of the Titanic along with a complete character list. This book was also dedicated to the six Chinese men that survived the sinking, so I thought that was nice. But overall, I wasn’t impressed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

at the end of the book, there is the sinking of the titanic.

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse

vampire_burrito's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

tak_everlasting's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

emotional informative sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood

Much of the events of this novel take place aboard the Titanic, and a good chunk of the novel deals with the events of its 1912 sinking, in which over 1500 people died due to drowning and hypothermia. Some anti-Asian (particularly Chinese and Japanese) racial abuse is directed towards the MC and the other Chinese people aboard the ship, and a major plot point deals with the Chinese Exclusion Act, a racist policy banning Chinese people from entering the United States of America.

r1vana's review against another edition

emotional sad

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

3.75

“Life is a balancing act. You could be killed walking down the street, but you don't let that fear stop you. You just practice until the fear is no longer part of the equation.”

I knew that it was a Titanic retelling, but it doesn’t stop me to feel this pain. This is a story about an unconditional love between siblings whether they are blood or not.

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The first half of the book pacing was slow. The story picks up around when the Titanic gets hit by the iceberg.
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The ending kills me. Both twins were meant to survive but since the boat only has one seat,  Valora sacrifice herself to save her twin brother Jamie. I genuinely taught that Val was gonna survive.
She could’ve have her dream come true: being part of a circus, in NYC and maybe be with  Bo, her short lived love story or even reunite and live with Jamie.

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TW: xenophobia; racism; racial slurs; death of a parent(s); death; grief; survival  guilt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent