Reviews with content warning for Racism - In the Beautiful Country

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo

10 reviews

alisazhup's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

"Sometimes we don't get to choose
how we say goodbye."

An emotional but hopeful middle grade novel in verse exploring the themes of immigration, racism, Taiwanese and Chinese culture, family, and most importantly, what it means to hold on to goodness and to call a place a home.

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leahgustafson's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

4.0

This is a beautiful story, written in verse, that captures the immigrant experience. Ai Shi (Anna) is seen by her family in Taiwan as “the lucky one” because her family is moving to the United States. When she arrives, however, Anna’s expectations of “the beautiful country” do not match reality.

•

We follow Anna as she attends school, experiences overt racism, and grapples with her dual identity. Anna’s voice is powerful and authentic. I also like how Kuo highlights the strain on Anna’s parents’ relationship through her eyes and the importance of finding and having your community, where ever you are.

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This is a short but emotional story that tackles so many major themes such as the immigrant experience, the American Dream, racism, and identity.

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The format of this book makes it very accessible for young readers. This story can serve as both a mirror and a window and would be a gift to classroom and school libraries everywhere!

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Check out what I'm reading next on Instagram @LeahsLitReview

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btwnprintedpgs's review

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emotional hopeful fast-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

5.0

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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3.0

📱
The poetry was well written. I think this book handles topics like racism in a related manner. It was sad and hopeful.

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antonique_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? N/A

4.0

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readingwithcats's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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afi_whatafireads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

'If there's one thing
I want you to learn it's this:
hold on to what is good.

With all your strength,
grab hold of the good
in this world
and never let go.

Such a telling tale and somewhat a semi-memoir of a Taiwanese-Chinese family who moved to America in hopes in living the America dream.

Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟

The novel in prose was written in 4 parts, in which each part tells the journey of Anna and her family on their moving to America. The Beautiful Country or known as America is a place where immigrants especially asians come over to find more opportunities for work and a better life. In the case of Anna, we get an insight of her moving to Los Angeles at 10 years old, with her parents and her have no proficiency in English. There we see not only the Racism and constant snide remarks and gaslighting that children of immigrants usually has to face, the author also showed the harsh reality of what it means to be poor, in an unknown land, in search of finding a place to call Home .

Since Anna's family is a mix of Taiwanese and Chinese, we not only get an insight of the racism that happens in America, we also get the racism among their own race as well, where Taiwanese are not considered "as Chinese" as the people from the mainland. Even though this book is targeted for middle grade readers, its also an eye opening read from the eyes of an adult, where the perspectives of children are often honest and makes your heart go 🥺 as Anna was only a child but had to act as an adult. We also see her character growth from being a loner, into accepting her culture and introducing them to the people at her school. Targeted bullying is not something not common and we often see it with immigrant children, where they grew up to not know which place to feel belonged too. I liked that the author took this topics at hand, and as it almost a semi-memoir as its told on the author's real experiences as well, it makes the story more heart-wrenching.

Overall, whilst the technicalities in writing could be done better, I feel that this book is such a good read for its targeted audience, and even an eye opener, especially to APOC and immigrant children living in America. It portrays the harsh reality of the "land of dreams" while also showing at the end of the day, what is important that is we stay true to ourselves and the concept of 'home' is something that we create, made of the people we love and cherish.

Highly Recommended!

Thank you so much to Times Reads for generously providing me this gorgeous copy of the book.

Disclaimers: All my reviews are my thoughts of the book and according to my personal preferences. Even though I had received a review copy, it does not affect my review and honest thoughts for the book.

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beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I want to start with a thank you to Quill Tree Books, Jane Kuo, and Storygram for letting me read this wonderful book.

This was the very sweetest, most lyrical, and most emotional book I have read this year. It had me smiling, crying, and laughing throughout. I think everyone needs to read this, especially the middle graders. I think they will get a lot out of this and I will be sending a copy of this to my niece. I would check TW/CW before reading this and letting the young one read it. I can't wait to read more from Jane Kuo.

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amandathebookishlibrarian's review against another edition

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3.0

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leahjanespeare's review against another edition

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4.5

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