Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

33 reviews

amberacks12's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad

• 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

5.0

I think this book might be my favorite I’ve read this year. Utterly absorbing, mysterious, with tons of insights into an unfamiliar culture, tradition, and historical time period. Choo perfectly captures the haunting, atmospheric tone reminiscent of fairytales and mythology, and entwines it with engaging storylines and interesting characters that at once feel strange and real at the same time. 
The fox characters especially were my favorite, and I think purposely written so you never were quite sure if they were fox or human. 
I really enjoyed the audiobook too. It’s read by the author and her smooth, gentle tone definitely aided in building the haunting atmosphere, not to mention her pronunciations of all the Chinese words and phrases. That’s not something I would have gotten reading on my own. 
Yangsze Choo has all of sudden become an author I think I will be reading everything she has written, and everything she has yet to write. 

Enjoyment: 5
Emotional impact: 5
Educational value: 5
= 5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement and Blood

Minor: Suicide

kmack1230's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Murder, and Sexual harassment

woolerys's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book. First of all, the prose is lovely. It got repetitive at times but this helped create the impeccable pacing and added to the poetic quality. The plot was complex and revealed so deliciously slowly; there’s a stretch where you *are* getting answers but each answer spawns three new questions. And you just know at least one murder is going to happen… oh wait maybe more than one… The foreshadowing on one of them just about killed me. The characters were great and—mild, vague spoiler—

the fox characters, while being very human throughout the events in the present tense, did have a certain mischievousness and/or carelessness to them that made them believable as fox spirits even in their human forms.

So much chaos. 

 

The setting—1908 in Manchuria—does include a lot of misogyny, so check content warnings if certain circumstances or abuses in that category are likely to be triggering. The narrators acknowledge it, but they are more bystanders than either perpetrators or harbingers of justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Misogyny, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexual violence

A mother grieving the death of her child and seeking revenge is pretty central to the plot.

freemakd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, and Kidnapping

snorinlauren411's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, and Sexual harassment

liadh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

heini's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Trafficking, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Slavery

scmiller's review against another edition

hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dcfelk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

Eerie, lovely, textured. Layout and margins are gorgeous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death