Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Land of Milk and Honey

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

22 reviews

rei_reads's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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? It's complicated

4.0

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joshloftin's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

Although an interesting premise with potentially dynamic characters, “Land of Milk and Honey” ultimately becomes a grinding love story that is lacking in love. The selfishness of the characters becomes more apparent as the book progresses, making all of them unlikable.

Zhang’s prose simmers with compelling detail and evocative descriptions of place, food, and sex. Her skill with words, however, doesn’t move the story forward. The middle of the book often feels like a slog, while the ending seems both rushed and unnecessary.

Aside from pacing, some of the plot devices and characters also serve as social commentary but remain one-dimensional cutouts and caricatures (in particular, the tech bro). The most interesting character, in fact, may be the cat.

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mxhcat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Such a strange story! Oddly (appropriately) enjoyable.

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jayisreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

3.75

I really enjoyed Zhang’s debut novel, so I entered Land of Milk and Honey with relatively high expectations. Much like How Much of These Hills Is Gold, Zhang delivered exquisite lyricism and a distinct writing style that will be hit-or-misses for readers. She also presented some really interesting themes in Land of Milk and Honey—especially in relation to a dystopian world—which was a variety that included beauty, social class, pleasure, and climate change. I will say, though, that the themes were not overtly stated and might require the reader to tease them out, which could be frustrating given the prose. I also thought it would have been nice if Zhang had stuck with fewer themes to explore in-depth as opposed to the multiple that she seemed to have wanted to discuss.

I think Land of Milk and Honey fell flat for me because I wasn’t entirely invested in either the story or the characters. Regarding the story, there certainly was a plot, but it was a very slippery one to grasp that resulted in me losing interest over time. As for the characters and their relationships with one another, they were interesting enough, but I didn’t think they were particularly memorable. With all this said, I will say that I think I may have picked this book up at the wrong time and just wasn’t in the right headspace for it.

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siebensommer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

how terrifying, how thrilling to be seen

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juliusclearance's review

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This is one of those books that is incredible but I’ll never read again. I cried at the end. It was so compelling. I couldn’t read it for more than fifteen minutes at a time or I knew it would ruin me. It did anyway. I cried again when I talked about it in bookclub.

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