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tiemzahra's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The author belongs to a family with “astronaut” father, where he stayed in Hong Kong for work, while the rest of the family immigrated to Canada. Leading to her father’s death, the author struggled with unresolved questions and misunderstandings, and upon revisiting these memories with her mother and grandmother, she realised her life has taken a better turn due to their bleaker ones.
This book hit a little close to home. How do you grieve for the family who didn’t share their feelings? From the perspectives of the author, the mother, and the grandmother, who in turned shared their experiences, in a way giving answers to the author. It was relatable - the author remembered her childhood trauma and sought explanation from her parents. This is a story of forgiveness towards your parents, understanding them and their choices better when you’ve grown up.
Not everyone will get the author’s chance. Some never get closure, some realised way too late, and some still find it hard to forgive, and in my opinion, each one of them is okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
meemawreads's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This 2021 debut by Pik-Shuen Fung was on my library’s New shelf and I’m so grateful I wandered in and found it there. It reads like memory, it looks like poetry and it boils over with feeling.
The narrator of this story moves with her family to Canada from Hong Kong in the 90s, leaving behind an “astronaut dad” - a term invented to describe men who stayed behind to keep their jobs while their families left ahead of Britain’s return of Hong Kong to China. The chapters are short and not necessarily chronological, giving the book an almost stream-of-consciousness feeling. Y’all know I love an audiobook but I HIGHLY recommend a physical copy of this one: the way the pages are formatted makes a difference in how this book is experienced. Words are placed with artistic intention. Empty space matters.
Speaking of empty space, this book will resonate with anyone who felt distant from their dad. Strong warning, it features illness and hospitals and death. It harnesses deep grief, so not everyone will be in a space to receive it. I was, and was so touched by the opportunity to learn about the funeral practices of another culture while deeply connecting with the common experience of loss. I can’t recommend it enough, I devoured it in one day, and I bequeath it a full 5 taters! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
The narrator of this story moves with her family to Canada from Hong Kong in the 90s, leaving behind an “astronaut dad” - a term invented to describe men who stayed behind to keep their jobs while their families left ahead of Britain’s return of Hong Kong to China. The chapters are short and not necessarily chronological, giving the book an almost stream-of-consciousness feeling. Y’all know I love an audiobook but I HIGHLY recommend a physical copy of this one: the way the pages are formatted makes a difference in how this book is experienced. Words are placed with artistic intention. Empty space matters.
Speaking of empty space, this book will resonate with anyone who felt distant from their dad. Strong warning, it features illness and hospitals and death. It harnesses deep grief, so not everyone will be in a space to receive it. I was, and was so touched by the opportunity to learn about the funeral practices of another culture while deeply connecting with the common experience of loss. I can’t recommend it enough, I devoured it in one day, and I bequeath it a full 5 taters! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
atenderwitch's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
ratatouille_angel's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
libraryadvokate's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Medical content
readundancies's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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? No
5.0
This little ditty of a book absolutely WRECKED me.
We're talking 272 pages that forced me upon a temporary relocation to Bawl Town that I was not planning on making, where I got to experience what felt like never-ending rivers pouring down my face that consisted entirely of salty tears, cool sweat and entirely too much nasal mucous. The impromptu trip then ended in the most unfortunate result of puffy-eyed blotchiness alongside the general feeling of absence that was very prominent throughout the book itself.
So long story short, I was a real mess when I finished this story, and it's been a long time since that has been the case for me. I think I needed it.
This books reads very much like a memoir. While reading it, I had to keep reminding myself that it in fact was not a memoir because it could be and felt like one. Normally, that would be a giant turn-off for me because memoirs are truly just not my favourite, but it worked so well with the vignette styled delivery.
And the writing style of the vignettes themselves was so effective. It introduced the absence of story, since we only get to experience specific moments in time, and the fact that it tied together with the titular vignette explaining the one strike ink art perfectly? So satisfying and so well done.
The second half of this novel was the most emotionally arresting thing I’ve read this year. I had to purposefully stop reading this on the train during my commute home because I was tearing up real bad and *knew* I wouldn’t be able to make it home without losing all my composure. And I was right. I have cried more tears on August 9th than at any other point this year because the story was so moving. And really, what a genuinely compelling read. I didn’t want to stop reading at so many times because I was so lost to the prose, but I knew I had to because if not I would’ve been really just crying my heart out.
The discourse on grief and loss throughout the novel spoke to me. Revelling in the moment, and having the grace to love what you have and who you have and let them know it is not a message that is typically expressed in many Eastern culture, including literature, and exposing that in the frame of astronaut families, showing the struggle of children who are raised in a place where their family and culture is not at the forefront of the world around them was masterful. As a mixed race child myself I related to this story in a way I never have before and I'm still a little unsettled and teary-eyed just thinking about it. I've delayed writing this review for a week because I couldn't process just how affected I was without becoming completely overwrought again emotionally.
I loved how all of the family members blended into the unnamed narrator. Her voice becomes them, and their stories and thoughts become her and it is beautiful. Especially because you know the end is coming. That death looms upon the front stoop, waiting. And I won’t say it didn’t hurt when it happened. But knowing the end was near was also a blessing because at least you were prepared.
I don't think the impact of this novel has really hit me yet. All I know is that I desperately need a copy of this book to call my own.
So if you're thinking about picking this up, be prepared for tears.
And if you're not thinking about picking this up, all I can say is that you're missing out on something truly special. I'd suggest you reconsider.
We're talking 272 pages that forced me upon a temporary relocation to Bawl Town that I was not planning on making, where I got to experience what felt like never-ending rivers pouring down my face that consisted entirely of salty tears, cool sweat and entirely too much nasal mucous. The impromptu trip then ended in the most unfortunate result of puffy-eyed blotchiness alongside the general feeling of absence that was very prominent throughout the book itself.
So long story short, I was a real mess when I finished this story, and it's been a long time since that has been the case for me. I think I needed it.
This books reads very much like a memoir. While reading it, I had to keep reminding myself that it in fact was not a memoir because it could be and felt like one. Normally, that would be a giant turn-off for me because memoirs are truly just not my favourite, but it worked so well with the vignette styled delivery.
And the writing style of the vignettes themselves was so effective. It introduced the absence of story, since we only get to experience specific moments in time, and the fact that it tied together with the titular vignette explaining the one strike ink art perfectly? So satisfying and so well done.
The second half of this novel was the most emotionally arresting thing I’ve read this year. I had to purposefully stop reading this on the train during my commute home because I was tearing up real bad and *knew* I wouldn’t be able to make it home without losing all my composure. And I was right. I have cried more tears on August 9th than at any other point this year because the story was so moving. And really, what a genuinely compelling read. I didn’t want to stop reading at so many times because I was so lost to the prose, but I knew I had to because if not I would’ve been really just crying my heart out.
The discourse on grief and loss throughout the novel spoke to me. Revelling in the moment, and having the grace to love what you have and who you have and let them know it is not a message that is typically expressed in many Eastern culture, including literature, and exposing that in the frame of astronaut families, showing the struggle of children who are raised in a place where their family and culture is not at the forefront of the world around them was masterful. As a mixed race child myself I related to this story in a way I never have before and I'm still a little unsettled and teary-eyed just thinking about it. I've delayed writing this review for a week because I couldn't process just how affected I was without becoming completely overwrought again emotionally.
I loved how all of the family members blended into the unnamed narrator. Her voice becomes them, and their stories and thoughts become her and it is beautiful. Especially because you know the end is coming. That death looms upon the front stoop, waiting. And I won’t say it didn’t hurt when it happened. But knowing the end was near was also a blessing because at least you were prepared.
I don't think the impact of this novel has really hit me yet. All I know is that I desperately need a copy of this book to call my own.
So if you're thinking about picking this up, be prepared for tears.
And if you're not thinking about picking this up, all I can say is that you're missing out on something truly special. I'd suggest you reconsider.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
calicot's review against another edition
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Grief
deedireads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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? No
4.5
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Ghost Forest is a beautiful, reflective little book on the immigrant experience and the loss of a parent. I thought it was really beautiful.
For you if: You like novels told in vignettes.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you One World for the review copy of this book on NetGalley. One World’s books never let me down, and Ghost Forest was no exception.
Sparsely written and told entirely in vignettes, Ghost Forest almost doesn’t even feel like a novel. It’s written as a reflection on the narrator’s experiences as the daughter of an “astronaut father” (one who lived and worked in Hong Kong while his family emigrated elsewhere) and his later death by cancer. It’s also an homage to the women in her family — most particularly, her mother and grandmother, whose stories she became truly curious about only after her father died.
This is a book that would be easy to inhale but begs to be savored. I did read it in one sitting, but I had to force myself to read the words slowly and give each vignette a moment to sit with me before moving to the next one. It’s worth it — if you rush through this book, you’ll get little from it. Its power is in the quiet moments, the in-between unsaid things.
I was particularly struck by the portion of the novel where she describes her father’s funeral. She and her sister experienced their family’s funeral traditions for the first time, trying so desperately to get them right while also processing the loss they’d just endured. It is hard to hold both of those things in your mind at the same time.
There is no plot here, but it doesn’t need it. If you’re a fan of literary fiction or memoir, pick this one up. What an impressive debut.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Ghost Forest is a beautiful, reflective little book on the immigrant experience and the loss of a parent. I thought it was really beautiful.
For you if: You like novels told in vignettes.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you One World for the review copy of this book on NetGalley. One World’s books never let me down, and Ghost Forest was no exception.
Sparsely written and told entirely in vignettes, Ghost Forest almost doesn’t even feel like a novel. It’s written as a reflection on the narrator’s experiences as the daughter of an “astronaut father” (one who lived and worked in Hong Kong while his family emigrated elsewhere) and his later death by cancer. It’s also an homage to the women in her family — most particularly, her mother and grandmother, whose stories she became truly curious about only after her father died.
This is a book that would be easy to inhale but begs to be savored. I did read it in one sitting, but I had to force myself to read the words slowly and give each vignette a moment to sit with me before moving to the next one. It’s worth it — if you rush through this book, you’ll get little from it. Its power is in the quiet moments, the in-between unsaid things.
I was particularly struck by the portion of the novel where she describes her father’s funeral. She and her sister experienced their family’s funeral traditions for the first time, trying so desperately to get them right while also processing the loss they’d just endured. It is hard to hold both of those things in your mind at the same time.
There is no plot here, but it doesn’t need it. If you’re a fan of literary fiction or memoir, pick this one up. What an impressive debut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief
spaghettireads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A really moving story about the relationship between a father and daughter. Told from the perspective of the daughter, as she deals with growing up in a different country to her father, and then navigating her relationship with him through his terminal illness.
The story although fiction, feels memoir like in the way it’s told in vignettes of life over a long period of time. The story was particularly affecting in the way it portrayed complex family dynamics and how relationships are never just one thing.
I had seen multiple comparisons to Goodbye, Vitamin prior to reading this. While they both talk about a father daughter relationship, and how it changes through terminal illness, Ghost Forest doesn’t have the same dry humour that I felt really characterized the tone of Goodbye, Vitamin. I think they are both amazing books, but the tone of the two books is quite different.
I read Crying in H Mart following Ghost Forest, and there were clear parallels between them. Themes of grief, complex family dynamics, and the immigration experience. I think if you enjoyed either Crying in H Mart or Ghost Forest, you will like the other one. Both have beautiful language that really hits you hard.
The story although fiction, feels memoir like in the way it’s told in vignettes of life over a long period of time. The story was particularly affecting in the way it portrayed complex family dynamics and how relationships are never just one thing.
I had seen multiple comparisons to Goodbye, Vitamin prior to reading this. While they both talk about a father daughter relationship, and how it changes through terminal illness, Ghost Forest doesn’t have the same dry humour that I felt really characterized the tone of Goodbye, Vitamin. I think they are both amazing books, but the tone of the two books is quite different.
I read Crying in H Mart following Ghost Forest, and there were clear parallels between them. Themes of grief, complex family dynamics, and the immigration experience. I think if you enjoyed either Crying in H Mart or Ghost Forest, you will like the other one. Both have beautiful language that really hits you hard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
internationalreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
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