Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Wandering Souls by Cécile Pin

33 reviews

urbanheron's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 Fantastic debut novel which tells the story of a Vietnamese family who flee the country just after the war, and try to rebuild their lives in Thatcher's Britain while navigating grief for their homeland and lost family members. Beautifully written and super engaging with its use of epistolary and verse segments in-between very readable prose chapters, I raced through this book. Only minor criticism is some of the 'extra' sections were a bit twee for my taste, but overall would highly recommend.
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kirareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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augie_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

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kt_schutte's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.75

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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rsouders's review against another edition

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

3.5

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burnourhistory's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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zara89's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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slinkmalink's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

4.5

Was going to give it 4 stars but it earned an extra half in the last few chapters which nearly made me cry. 
I bought this because I'd studied the Vietnam war and Thatcher's Britain at college/uni, and I found it really interesting because it was the in-between of those things I did know something about that connected to them, but I knew nothing really about this itself. 
I loved the alternating chapters between the main storyline and Dao's perspective and the research, which all worked together to make it feel both informative and very personal, and the constant returning to the theme of 'wandering souls'.
I thought it was interesting and beautifully written and emotional and overall just a really great book.
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aniglen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

A Vietnamese family are fleeing to Hong Kong but only half the family make it to the UK. This follows the journey of three siblings and their treacherous journey through refugee camps, and resettlement centres before finally arriving in Thatchers Britain where it seems they are not wanted.

The eldest of the siblings, Anh is only 15 and she quickly needs to become a role of parent to her two brothers. This is a heart breaking look at the experiences of refugees to find a better life. It deals with grief, losing one’s sense of self, belonging and family. There are magical realism chapters from the perspective of Duc, one of the siblings who didn’t make the journey protecting his family. There are also beautiful chapters looking at the traditions around grief. Most of all this book has the kindness of strangers and love at the very heart. 

An incredible book which I learnt so much from. I have already started tabbing the pages that have affected me. I haven’t read literary fiction in a while and this book reminded me why I love that genre. 

If you want to read a book about human connection, love against all costs without sugar coating the experience of millions of people every day, please read this. 
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