Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing

This is one of those books where the story line isn’t much but I just could not stop reading. This novel follows Jena Lin, a former child prodigy on the violin but now, at 23 years old, she has become a nobody. Jena picked up the violin as a child and practiced until she becomes the world’s best violinist. At the age of 14, she throws it all away by purposefully messing up her solo performance with the New York Philharmonic at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

Jena replaces her fame with sex, seeking out sexual pleasure with multiple partners to fill the void that is left. Jena is reckless, selfish, unmotivated and doesn’t care much for her life and yet I found myself being drawn to her. Jessie Tu mentions the term TAG or Tiny Asian Girl in the book and Jena completely upends the idea of a submissive, conservative, soft TAG in people’s minds.

Jessie Tu writes with such a bold voice, giving power to loss girl navigating this world. Her writing is brutal, blunt and witty. This was such a refreshing twist from the usual ideal immigrant childhood story. Tu is unafraid of exposing that we all just muddling our way through this fragmented world that we live in. This is Tu's debut novel and if this is an indication to how good Australian literature is, then I'm definitely gonna be keeping my eye on new releases from down under!

CW: Sex (very graphic), Infidelity, Emotional Abuse

Content Warnings

nems's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

2.75

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