Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

6 reviews

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

How eerie reading this in between seeing headlines about book bans in Florida. This was a compelling dystopian novel. I agree with other reviewers that the second half struggled at times compared to the first half.

The conceit of Margaret narrating her whole life to Bird didn't always work when she was going into intimate details which were great for the reader but made less sense as dialogue with her son. I was also disappointed in the lack of information about the aftermath of Margaret's plan. We got a few flashforward glimpses but no information on the political fallout.

The writing was really beautiful. I liked seeing the world through Bird's eyes, a child's perspective in a novel aimed at adults. I enjoyed the use of folktales, etymology, and gardening through out. There were many horrifying bits in the book. I can tell it will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, and Deportation

Minor: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Islamophobia, and Slavery

snowdog's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, and Hate crime

courtneys317's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Physical abuse, and Violence

whatwentsent's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Gore, Death of parent, Police brutality, Racism, Xenophobia, Deportation, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Classism, Violence, Death, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

internationalreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Trafficking

thebookenddiner's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Our Missing Hearts 🤍

Genre: Science Fiction
Trope: Dystopian
Format: 📖🎧
Pub Date: 10.4.2022
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

"She returns in sudden flashes. Like scraps of half-remembered dreams."

I'm not going to lie; I was thrown off for the first few pages because I went into this book without reading the summary. I didn't want preconceived ideas, so I started reading and discovered that 1. There are no quotation marks, and 2. It's a dystopian novel. I switched to listening to the book through Libro.FM (because I can't handle no quotation marks) and then adapted my brain to take in a science fiction story.

Our Missing Hearts is a novel that will stay with me because it felt almost unsettling accurate, and prophetic. The whole book circles around love, friendship, and sacrifice and just how far some would go for strangers. The ambiguous ending left me feeling both gutted and hopeful.

📖 Perfect book club pick
🫠 No quotation marks!
❗️ Authors note is a must read
💯 Audiobook
🫶🏼 Themes of love, friendship & sacrifice
🥺 Felt unnervingly true & prophetic

❌ Graphic assault of a woman and her dog.

I recommend reading Our Missing Hearts if you enjoyed the poetic writing style of The Goldfinch.

______

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Physical abuse