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erinthelibrarian's review
3.0
I was riveted by this DISTURBING and SHOCKING portrayal of a Chinese family living outside Vancouver. In the vein of The Class Castle and Educated be prepared to take a peak into a family life that is filled with undiagnosed mental illness, verbal assaults, poor nutrition and seriously abusive language and behavior. I wish there had been a bit more time spent at the end by the author looking at how they got out and how they thrived. The epilogue was too brief. Dark humor abounds and you will NEVER get the Poteau, Honkouver, Woo Woo and screaming out of your head. I listened to the book too which really intensified it since the reader's impersonations of the various characters was very well done and accented.
kendall_mitchell's review
3.0
3.5
I read this book for an English class in university. When I first started it, I did not connect with the writing whatsoever and often found myself frustrated by the events within this pages. At around the halfway mark I was sure I would not finish this book. And then I had the privilege of meeting the author and that encounter changed everything. Seeing her as a normal human seemingly unaffected by the Woo Woo changed my perspective on the book. I no longer read it as a confusing telling of a childhood, I started reading it as a long, hard journey to life away from the Woo Woo. While this book may not be for everyone, if you like dark humour that covers up pain, memoirs about dysfunctional families and want to read about mental health in a way it was never been written before, then you just might enjoy the Woo Woo.
I read this book for an English class in university. When I first started it, I did not connect with the writing whatsoever and often found myself frustrated by the events within this pages. At around the halfway mark I was sure I would not finish this book. And then I had the privilege of meeting the author and that encounter changed everything. Seeing her as a normal human seemingly unaffected by the Woo Woo changed my perspective on the book. I no longer read it as a confusing telling of a childhood, I started reading it as a long, hard journey to life away from the Woo Woo. While this book may not be for everyone, if you like dark humour that covers up pain, memoirs about dysfunctional families and want to read about mental health in a way it was never been written before, then you just might enjoy the Woo Woo.
sam_griffin's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
I don’t know how but vancouver never ceases to surprise me.
ovenbird_reads's review
4.0
Such a disorienting look into mental illness, superstition, and family dysfunction and abuse. Wong's book reveals much about human fragility and resilience.
camille_caterpillar's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
A very difficult but engrossing read. I honestly can't rate it, and I'd be hard pressed to earnestly recommend it, yet I couldn't put it down. Wong's raw writing style and her determination to tackle unfathomable horrible situations with dark humour is commendable. Also, I found the subject matter fascinating and nor often talked about - not mental illness itself, or its consequences, but rather the infectious consequences of ignoring it. It also draws a bold portrait of a "complex" abusive situation, where every abuser is also abused, where general pathos forces the reader to sit uncomfortably with the nuanced realities of illness and ignorance, and generati9nal trauma.