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oz2021's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Child death and Car accident
auudrey's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Classism
rebcamuse's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
The imagery and descriptive writing is phenomenal. Zhang is deliberate in linking language across the story: the "calculus of loss" becomes the "connoisseurship of loss"--a subtle juxtaposition spaced several chapters apart, easy to miss. Metaphors abound: "...as I would not serve bitter greens without the consolation of oil, I began to keep back my less palatable feelings..." The insights, too, are plentiful: "Across the years it is hard to make out this version of myself, so blinkered by ambition that she sprinted through thirty years without asking, why?"
It was a slower "read" for me than I anticipated, but there is, forgive me, much to chew upon.
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Child death
shubka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
anitaconchita's review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Xenophobia
jayisreading's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Racism, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use, Car accident, and Alcohol
jfin54's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
christienana's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Violence, Medical content, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ukponge's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Violence and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
daniellemjoyce's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Murder and Pandemic/Epidemic