The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
inlaraland's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Daughters of the New Year is a story about generational trauma, immigrants, cultural detachment, fading memories, and the fate of horoscopes. Told through the perspective of mothers and daughters from different generations, you see how each of their experiences shape their decisions, and inevitably how those factors influence their relationships with one another as time goes by.
I wish this book was longer - I wish I had more answers about the lives of the characters who grew dear to my heart, but I think the lack of closure mirrors one of the many messages in this novel. This book forces you to be empathetic, to find a space in understanding characters who are neither good or bad, but a very human gray. The plot isn't quite linear, so if you're looking for a traditionally structured story then this might not be for you as reading each part about the characters almost feels like a personal investigation into their lives.
However, I will say that this story is a small seed of Vietnam's complex history, and does a great job at highlighting how that very seed spreads its roots from one generation to the next.
If you enjoyed reading "The Mountain Sings" and "Of Women & Salt" then I would give this a try!
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and War
amiably's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism
el21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Racism, War, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Rape
astraeal's review against another edition
3.5
i did like how we were discovering more and more about the women of the family, uncovering layer after layer
Graphic: Racism, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: War, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, and Colonisation
graceesford's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Racial slurs, and War
Minor: Rape
albon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, and Infidelity
Minor: War
wenwanzhao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The immigrant child anecdotes in this story can seem a bit tiresome at times, but it seems unfair to blame someone for retelling an honest experience. The book thrives in its second part, where we delve into the ancestors of the characters we are originally introduced to. It’s fascinating to see how the present we are introduced to comes into play.
I admit to expecting more closure on the arcs of the three sisters centred in the blurb, but I suppose it’s just more reason to never trust a summary written by a publisher. Tran’s writing is evocative without being overbearing, and it kept me more hooked into a book than I have been in a while.
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, Death of parent, War, Racism, and Death
musubi_mumma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
That is the hinge around which Daughters of the New Year swivels. This novel is an honest portrait of the brutal historical and cultural complexities that shape familial love.
The reader is given a privileged view into the minds, hearts, and philosophies of several generations of Vietnamese women. It is a novel about why and how mothering, motherhood, and filial duty are never straightforward, why these acts of love are volatile constructions of history and culture. Time and place alter the modes by which we care for one another, show each other love. What is an expression of affection for one generation is manipulation to the next. What is piety to one generation is an empty gesture for another. The reasons why mothers do what they do, why sometimes their love crushes their daughters, are molded by forces beyond their control: war, racism, patriarchy. Yet, for all those differences, there is one motivation behind these acts: the desire to provide the next generation with more than what the previous had. This is the love embedded in families.
The reader is given a privileged view of an excavation of familial love through Vietnamese and American history. Through chapters narrated by a daughter of this family, daughters descended through a matriarchal bloodline, the reader gets an interior view of the characters’ minds. Each of them has a different voice in this novel. EM. Tran’s prose is a beautiful thread throughout, binding their stories together, but each of the characters speak with their own, unique voice. Each chapter reveals its narrator’s logic, their historical context; explains why they did the things they did — even perhaps knowing that those acts would somehow traumatize the next generation.
There is Nhi and her sisters, the American generation. There is their mother, Xuan; their aunt, Xuan’s sister; there is their grandmother; a line of women, as if holding hands, unbroken, their spirits resiliently swaying in the winds of change and time going all the way back to the epic and legendary Trung sisters. Daughters of the New Year is about these women.
Fans of Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club, or Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko will enjoy Tran’s Daughters of the New Year.
Graphic: Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and War