Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Braised Pork by An Yu

7 reviews

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

dreadspawn's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer

fairygodfish's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

She was wrong, you see, the world of water couldn’t take all of her. Things don’t work in such absolute ways. But she never understood this. Parts of her, like seeds, have been planted on this earth and grown into shoots, flowers, trees, day by day. The roots have dug deep into the soil and will continue to extend, for as long as you and I can imagine.

This book is special. I picked it up expecting it to be a horror novel, because of the cover, but I couldn’t put it down. I saw myself in Jia Jia, I think. I will be re reading.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

hannahleila's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Self harm, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity

emory's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Braised Pork is a novel written in English by a Chinese author that is set in contemporary China. The plot is kicked off with the main character finding her husband drowned in their bathroom next to a picture that he drew of a fish man. Obviously the main character, Jia Jia, becomes obsessed with the fish man and has spiritual experiences about/with him. She journeys through China and Tibet to discover more about the fish man and his connection to her and to her husband’s death. There are emotional and situational resolutions for Jia Jia and other characters that bring them a lot of peace, but the narrative resolutions for the reader are secondary, I suppose—not absent because I didn’t find the ending lacking in anything at all. The narrative is resolved in a way that still leaves the reader with questions, which is something I really enjoyed about the book. In the grand tradition of magical realism, sometimes things just happen: Sometimes there’s a water dimension connected to our own that both takes from and gives to the people who encounter it. 

 

While reading the book, I enjoyed and respected the writing style and narrative techniques overall, but I was occasionally bored and ready for the plot to move on. However, in the weeks since I finished it, I’ve thought about this book pretty regularly. The atmosphere and “locations” Yu created have sort of woven their way into my brain and come to the surface a lot. I don’t know why! It may be the way she explores grief, reality, food, intergenerational experiences, complex partner relationships, and, of course, water.

(I wrote this for a job application, but may as well preserve my thoughts here too)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

kendallreadsbooks's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent