Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

19 reviews

smoothlikebutter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Classism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

beetsbydwight's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage

nerdatlas5's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

3.5

It was an interesting read. The whole books is about how secrets and trauma linger between generations and follow Ann and her mom healing their relationship after Grandma's death,  with little inserts from Grandma's ghost as she tells us the secrets that they will never fully know. They are all messy people, but the book has us and them make peace with that. I'd also call the book light on plot. The book moves forward as time moves forward for the characters and the greatest influence on the characters is simply that passage of time. This isn't to say nothing happened, but reading this kinda just felt like floating along through almost a year of Ann's life. Thao Thai does a great job threading the themes of the book throughout the characters' arcs and the plot of the book

The shifting narratives did get in the way a little by halting the momentum of the previous pov, but not enough to make me truly dislike it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infidelity and Racism

marioosa517's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment

I’

bea_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I can’t believe this is a debut novel 😦 This is genuinely such an incredible book I don’t even know how to put most of my thoughts into words. It kind of reminds me of Hula by ‘Iolani Hakes which I read earlier this month. There are similar themes of generational trauma, imperfect people just doing their best, and the rifts that form between mothers and daughters and how they change over time. There were so many emotional moments, so much I relate to despite being little like these women outside of also being a mother.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

4.25

This book felt like an instant classic. I was totally drawn into the story and read it in two days. It was my first time in a long time reading a family saga like this, and I really enjoyed it.

The writing style is really beautiful. I highlighted so many different passages. Here are a few favourite quotes:

"We would never have to lean on our stories to save us. We'd never need saving at all. Our roots would lift from the earth and carry us someplace where the dread would not pull us down."

"I see Banyan House for what it is: a home for women, a shaggy, worn, and vicious protector of the bruised, the tender."

"How love, for all its treachery, finds me in the last, unexpected moments of light."

"And I didn't tell him that none of it had been wasted at all, because I knew he would not see it that way."

Each of the three main characters was so complicated. Ann was the least sympathetic, as she had a coldness towards her mother that was hard to read at times, but her character growth was really great. My favourite of the three was Huong.

I wish we had gotten her voice once again at the end, after the Banyan House burned down. I could tell that a weight had been lifted off her after it was gone, the room where Vinh died finally destroyed like she'd wanted it to be for all those years. I suspect she knew that Phuoc was the one who burned the house down, from some of the hints we got in the dialogue. Whether she confronted him about it and that was why he moved away, I'm not sure. I was really glad that Ann came to appreciate her mother more by the end.

Minh's passages were always so interesting, looking back on her long life. With each of these women, you understood why they did the things they did. I wish I had a more eloquent way of describing how rich the relationships in this book are. You can really feel the weight of the atmosphere of the places described in the book too. The heat and humidity of the Florida summer hangs down over everyone like bugs dancing on the water of a swamp. The Banyan House had such personality, and I loved the way that the folk tale about the moon was woven through.

I was glad that Ann and Wes didn't end up together. Their scenes were often really nice, but Crystal talking about how unhappy Fiona had been made me very wary of him at the end. I was a little disappointed that some of the secrets the Tran women kept weren't communicated to each other, after the ominous passages about how the Banyan House couldn't handle the weight of all the secrets, and neither could they. I also had very mixed feelings about Ann naming her son Bính. It felt like a root to the past that wasn't needed, especially since we knew what a cad the original Bính was, though she of course didn't. It was an odd note for me and I'm not sure how it'll sit with me over time. There was also one mystery that was never addressed, the cryptic references Minh made to "the Lady" who had once owned the house.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes family sagas. This one feels like it will be talked about for a long time to come, read in classes and book clubs with discussions of all the symbolism, layers of truth, and revelations that come as the story goes on. It was hard to read at times and is very sad, but the three women were so interesting to read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mj_86's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Miscarriage

mbgibson825's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

4.0

Looks like I’m getting my fill of Vietnamese literature this year. This one was very good. A departure from the model minority story and an irreverence for purity culture. Minh’s perspective was my favorite, and I really loved that she was still narrating after she wouldn’t normally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

jesspoemape's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and War