Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

71 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Immediately pulled in! I loved Ng’s two other books and she’s definitely an auto buy author now.

I did have to get used to the lack of quotation marks. I also found that  the chapters could be a little long for my personal taste, but sometimes the story held my focus that they went by quickly. The story itself is Heartbreaking and inspiring! I loved the complex characters and getting to know them throughout the novel. I also loved Ng’s prose as always; there were plenty of lines I was struck by, reread, and wanted to highlight (but couldn’t because I read a library copy)!

Although the events of the book are fiction, there were a lot of parallels to what we have seen both in the past and the present. I highly recommend Our Missing Hearts if you enjoy dystopian novels, literary prose, and/or complex characters! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Hate crime, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Police brutality, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

tltorrez's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Like everything Celeste Ng writes it’s beautiful but it’s incredibly sad. Her books always have an element of hope but this one feels much harder. This is a dystopia in the near future. Too near really. Definitely a must read if you’re a fan of her work.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

haunted_jackalope's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Violence

seethinglloron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

What a beautiful story of love earned and love lost, of a war waged in silence and in public, of a mother and how dangerous she becomes when her child is in danger. Incredible. I cried and cried and cried, a statue standing alone in the street.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Rape

jessiejonesbentley's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Xenophobia, Deportation, Grief, Abandonment, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Colonisation

adragoninspace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Death, Racism, Bullying, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

bookswithisabel's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad

4.5

*4.5 stars
Ugh I just love Celeste Ng, this was so good but heartbreaking, as all of her books are. No spoilers, but as an aspiring librarian/archivist the role that librarians and libraries played in this story made me so emotional. 🤍

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Racial slurs and Panic attacks/disorders

vanessagrausam's review against another edition

hopeful sad slow-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality

basil_touche's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-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? No

3.75

I wouldn't say this is ground breaking, but it feels very personal and raw; about injustice and xenophobia and individuals trying to make change in a world that sees them as the other. It's a narrative very much focused on love and grief, inspired by real world events (I appreciate that the author left an afterword referencing the books she used for research). 

Something about the pacing and some character writing didn't really work for me but it has left me thinking, and that is more than I can say about a lot of books.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

annamay1021's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Violence, Police brutality, and Bullying