Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

6 reviews

littlelizzieborden's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

ottercorg's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

2.0

It took a long time to get into this one, and to be honest, I'm not sure I ever did. I persevered just to see how to ended, and then ended up being wildly disappointed.

It was interesting to peak into a culture I know very little about. It's always comforting to read stories that take place in Southern California - it brings a sense of familiarity. 

But the writing is not very strong. There are too many characters to keep track of, too many lives to follow, too...much. I really wanted to enjoy it but I just found myself waiting for it to end.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

redvelveting's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

2.5

The aunties of this book are reminiscent of my own and even my mother lol. Not a read to take seriously, complete with cheesy and sometimes trashy comedy; not everything needs to be sophisticated anyhow :) My biggest issues with this book were with the number of characters (we constantly switch between subplots, making it hard to keep up sometimes) and the frequency of sentences along the lines of “and you’ll never guess what happened next!!!!” It’s fine occasionally but damn sometimes I just want to find out myself without needing it to be announced beforehand. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Colonisation, War, and Classism

victoriaharris001's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

starrysteph's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The Fortunes of Jaded Women was a quick but powerful read.

 

We follow a large, complicated family of Vietnamese women who have been cursed for generations by a witch. Their ancestor Oanh left her marriage for true love – and so her descendants were cursed to never find love or happiness, and to only give birth to daughters.

 

Now skip ahead to present day, when current descendant Mai feels like her life is falling apart. She’s estranged from her two sisters and deeply worried about her three adult daughters. So she heads to her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who offers her an unusual prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son (!).

 

The story takes off at lightning speed from there. We alternate between a HUGE cast of characters from chapter to chapter, often hearing one side of the story and then the next. It was a little confusing to keep track at times, but the family tree at the front of the book was helpful. And as I got to know each character a little better, the threads became much clearer.

 

The storytelling is emotional and chaotic and raw – but also quite funny at times. These women are strong and STUBBORN.

 

The first half of the book focuses on the generation of mothers. All they want is to do better than their parents and to give their children happiness … but they don’t always know how. In the second portion of the book, we hear more from the daughters. They’re all desperately trying to distance themselves from their mothers in very different ways – but often unknowingly continue the cycles they hope to break.

 

Slowly but surely, the family is reunited. And all of this chaos culminates in one of the most jaw-droppingly awesome climaxes I’ve ever read. Everything comes together all at once, and I was cracking up at the delightful ridiculousness of it all.

 

This book covers SO much: navigating love in all of its stages, connecting with your roots and heritage in different ways, dealing with racism and harmful stereotypes, the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, generational trauma, the burden of being an eldest daughter, and so much more. It will make you laugh out loud and then punch you in the gut. It’s a celebration of Vietnamese women and of complicated families who may get into public food fights but ultimately will do anything for each other.

 

CW: death, grief, racism, toxic relationship, infidelity, body shaming, drug use, mental illness, misogyny, medical content, miscarriage, pregnancy, cultural appropriation, abandonment, colonization, classism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

internationalreads's review

emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol