Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

33 reviews

nightstitch96's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I don't think the book did anything wrong, it just wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Murder and Sexual harassment

Minor: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

audreylee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

The Fox wife is a beautifully immersive experience. The very fabric of the story is saturated in Chinese mythology and culture. Violence and obsession are the cornerstone of the relationships between the fox and their human counterparts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal death

goblinsav's review

emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

The book focuses on the main character's grief after the loss of her child. It is a major subject in the book and while it isn't graphically described and is clearly written with care it is not a throw away detail on one page.

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I think I’d be reading this higher if I’d had more continuity while reading the book, but I kept getting interrupted, and it ended up making it a difficult book to get through. The parts I could read for long stretches were clever, and I guess many cultures look at foxes the same way - as sly and sexy. Think I’ll try rereading it someday when there are fewer disruptions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

chantale's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and War

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

mmccombs's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

This was a solid read but definitely not one I will be remembering for much more than like a day after finishing it. I enjoyed Snow as a character, and I think the storyline on the whole was an interesting blend of magical realism, mystery, and historical fiction. However, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep somewhere around the 6 hour mark and then came to fairly confused for a bit (though it all sorted itself out by the end). So even though there was a kind of murder mystery element to it that should have been pretty thrilling, I mostly found the pace to be kind of slow and boring. I think it probably could have been shorter (and maybe remove some of the subplots) and been effective. Also, this felt very much like a book written for white, Western readers, which is not necessarily a ding on this book, but just something to be aware of. All in all, I liked this book but wished for a bit more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Grief

Moderate: Violence and Murder

silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.0

 I think my real discomfort with this book stems from visiting Thailand as a Christian, and for the first time in my life seeing pagan/animist shrines casually displayed in public. 

 This book is engagingly written, and mostly seems to present the foxes as another type of creature--not necessarily supernatural so much as mysterious and not in our current scientific data. But the inclusion of fox shrines in the story made it hard to shake the creepy feeling that I know what's really behind the legends being retold here, and that I don't like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide and Forced institutionalization

jellobean's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was a very pleasant read! I got to the end and smiled and said "that was just a good, fun book." I would love to read more in a series surrounding Snow and her companions. Her first-person POV was a delight, and I would have loved for the author to include even more footnotes from Snow! I think strong personalities such as hers is what makes first-person narration shine. 

It seemed as though the author put value in consistency of approximate chapter length and switching POV each chapter. As a result, I was not as interested in Bao's story by the end. I enjoyed his character and his arc, but it felt as though our time with him was a little wasted in that we were repeating a lot of the exposition from previous chapters, just in a different setting/triggered by different events. I think I would have more enjoyed fewer Bao chapters spread out a little more, or just more variation in his plot. 

I appreciated all of the research that was clearly put in to fox folklore and the historic setting. There are a few loose ends that I felt weren't quite wrapped up, but overall a great read!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Grief and Sexual harassment

Minor: Xenophobia, Murder, and War