Reviews

Bronze Drum: A Novel of Sisters and War, by Phong Nguyen

priyastoric's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

cmcjohnson049's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

I never got really into this book until the very end, unfortunately found it kind of boring for the majority. It’s a very different genre than I usually read and while I found the setting and characters interesting, I just didn’t prefer the writing and pacing.

Spoiler

The end was very depressing and I’m still not sure what to think.

Spoiler

. This book did make me think, mostly about why the author made certain characters make certain choices- is it meant to be historically accurate? I’m still not sure what I am taking away from this book. 

cyndqls's review

4.0

i quite liked this novel! it was, i think, a bit simple and straightforward in terms of prose and plot, but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. if you're the type of reader that likes to get in a character's guts, this probably isn't for you, but i liked the distance between the trung sisters + the narration and me as a reader.

delaneyt6's review

4.0

very beautifully written

beautiful description of love

love a pair of powerful sisters against the world

emtomso's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

logannium's review

emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.0

megancmahon's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

I was disappointed in this one. I thought it was going to be in the style of a folk tale, like Thistlefoot, and it kind of was, but there was no emotion or heart behind the prose. "This person did this and then this person did this" - we never really got into the heart of the story, or any of the emotions behind the characters, and it wasn't even as informative about ancient Vietnamese life as I hoped it would be. It seemed a little confused; it tried to be both folk tale and historical fiction, but it didn't quite succeed at occupying either space.

However the prose was really lovely and I did enjoy learning about these awe-inspiring sisters. It definitely inspired me to read more about them!

swaggyg's review

slow-paced

2.0

briannad4's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, War, and Xenophobia

kaitlynbro's review

Writing isn’t easy to read, very show and not tell, the story is cool, but the writing made it hard to care at all about the sisters and their relationships bc there was nothing there..