Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav

2 reviews

cinderellasbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This is one of my new all-time favorite books. It completely broke my heart and put it back together again. 
 
Lang Leav’s novel is a poignant coming-of-age story that follows Ai, a Cambodian-Australian teenager living in Whitlam, Australia in the late 90s. Her neighborhood is home to other Asian immigrants and refugees who have fled war-torn countries as her family did when they escaped the Khmer Rouge. Though Ai and her friends, Brigitte, Bowie, Tin and Sying try to live ordinary lives away from the horrors of the past, it still continues to haunt them along with the racism they face in Australia. It all comes to a head when a horrible tragedy changes their lives forever. 
 
Initially, I picked up OTHERS WERE EMERALDS on a whim after reading two friends’ reviews on it. Never did I expect how much it would affect me. I was angry, I cried, but it also left me with hope, especially for Ai and the people in her life after everything they endured. The writing is especially beautiful. I felt pulled in by Leav’s thoughtful prose and everything she wanted to say and said through her characters and their stories. 
 
An important aspect of the book, and what struck me while reading, is how Ai is just a teenager and later just at the beginning of adulthood as she grapples with trauma and its aftermath from both the past and her present. 
 
On the surface, her friendship with Brigitte, which is complicated by own insecurities, may seem trivial compared to Sying’s cause against anti-Asian sentiment and Tin’s difficult homelife. However, everything she and her friends go through are a significant part of their youth that is inextricably tied together. While Ai may process or see things differently at first, focusing instead on what is closest to her that she can perceive and control, it’s as she gets older she begins to realize how much all of it, the past and the memories she has, can reverberate throughout the rest of her life and how she can also heal from it. It’s what makes OTHERS WERE EMERALDS and that weight of nostalgia so raw. It’s truly one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. 

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kellyung's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0

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