Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Dolende zielen by Anneke Bok, Cecile Pin

21 reviews

chrysos79's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Minor: Xenophobia and War

urbanheron's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and War

augie_'s review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and War

ka_schulze's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

lydia_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence and War

literaryinliverpool's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? N/A

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

slinkmalink's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and War

skyfluff's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

claire_michelle18's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

A beautifully written saga about Anh and her two brothers, who flee as refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s and eventually end up in the UK. I found Anh's story achingly sad but, in the end, hopeful as she gradually builds a life for herself and her family. Pin's writing is stunning, with the story mainly told from Anh's perspective but with snippets from other perspectives, moving forwards and back through time to add layers of depth to the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug use

nyxlexica's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

2.0

Blighted by poor prose and a lack of emotional depth. I did appreciate the peek into the realities of surviving these situations, but the book read like a series of summaries, never really grounding me in the characters. While I enjoyed the author's decision to include commentary on the researching and writing processes, other asides written from the point of view of a very young lost brother felt ingenuine and overly cutesy. The chapter on intergenerational trauma was fascinating but made no impact on the fictional retelling; I felt the final act of the book spent a lot of its time telling me what to take away from the story rather than building a narrative to make me feel that way.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia