Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

76 reviews

teeclecticreads's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I can admit that this is the second best book I’ve ever read. No joke. Celeste Ng is such a talented writer. I love how she always uses these young main characters who make such a huge difference as they find their own way. Bird’s curiosity, determination and wonder was nicely balanced with his naivety and ignorance of the world. And Sadie! Ugh that firecracker. She was a delight to read about.

In terms of the plot, she captured xenophobia, racism and animal abuse in a way that was still hard to read, hurtful but tasteful enough to not be stomach-curdling. It’s so sad that this was a word of fiction but still spoke to a very-present American reality. Having to deny who you are and the people you love because of their cultural background sucks.

The pacing was perfect. Things didn’t happen too quickly but it also wasn’t too slow. We got the right amount of context to figure out what was happening and what would happen. First Bird’s past, then Margaret’s, and those both helped form the future details. I still can’t believe that cliffhanger though! It was so sad 😭 I wish we could know what happens after.

I read the physical book along with the audiobook and it really enhanced the experience. Celeste and Lucy Liu did a great job bringing the story to auditory life. The ooooooonly little qualm I had was the fact that there were no quotation marks or chapter labels. Otherwise, absolutely a 5 star read and and eye-opener.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

It sheds a light on the removal and replacement of children from their families which can be a sensitive topic for some.

emilypancake13's review

challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

Oh my God. A must-read if you live in Florida in this political climate. Eye-opening. So well-written, visual and emotional and needs to be read by anyone and everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Police brutality

cakrolik's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

emma_sky's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Xenophobia, Violence, and Police brutality

There is a major theme of family displacement, and children being taken from families by the government. There are a few descriptions of violence, hate crimes and sexual harassment, but it’s not overtly gory.

daydreamdarling's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Blood, Classism, Death, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, and Vomit

chelseylb1988's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Colonisation, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Violence, Xenophobia, and Grief

nerdy_reader_9571's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

While I absolutely adored this book, I will say that it is a very American story. The historical events mentioned and the trauma that those events and their aftermath caused characters are all very real and very specific to the American experience. Yes, the Crisis is fictional, but the rest of the story is very realistic. I’ve heard and read other reviews that characterize this book as dystopian, but I didn’t think the story as a whole was one that I would characterize as dystopian. It felt too close to America’s current and very recent realities to be characterized as such. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

amberjackonski's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Racism

Moderate: Hate crime and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty

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.

Spoiler

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

ciwanski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

What a chilling premonition of what our future could very much become. Ng puts together the ugly puzzle pieces of American racism, otherness, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia into the full picture of some of the very worst ways our country could “progress” and does so in such beautiful and easy language to make a very powerful story. 

Honestly at first I genuinely thought the novel was based in the 40s/50s and thought I might be a bit bored by it, but I was very much mistaken. I flew through this audiobook in just about a day. 

I know Ng quotes Margaret Atwood in her author’s note, and it brought to mind how complimentary their story telling is. I’m not sure if this would be classified as a dystopian novel (since it’s so based in reality, but aren’t they all?), but it definitely should be! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Death of parent, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Racism