Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - All That's Left Unsaid

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

31 reviews

saturn_rage's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

This would be a near perfect book for me were it not for the god-awful ending. It’s a cheap cop-out to an otherwise great examination of grief, trauma, and how none of this is simple. Everyone here has suffered and continues to suffer in different ways, and the book has a lot great understanding of how trauma flows across generations. In the same way, you have to make closure for yourself. There’s also so much that resonates for me as a child of abusive parents, and while my experience is clearly different from the one here, it still hits. I do love this, and the penultimate chapter serves as a great ending to the story, and I really wish it just stopped there. But it be.

Content Warnings

pri_t's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective

4.0

Book club book.

My Ratings (from our book club forms):
Characters - 4/5
Writing - 4/5
Plot Story - 5/5

General vibes from everyone:
- Liked the multi POV - but least enjoyed Lulu’s
- Good range of characters that were fleshed out
- Migrant experiences in which some aspects were relatable but a lot was new to read and learn about

My notes:
- Liked learning and seeing the different migrant experiences and different experiences of the Vietnamese war and what immigrating looked like for them
- Didn’t appreciate the crying at 1:30am in the morning as I finished the book. (Really liked that I got so moved by the story and characters)

My Fave quotes:
- “…until one day flora couldn’t remember what her brother had looked like before his skin declared war on him.”
- “He told her he loved her. He’d never said it again, embarrassed by his break in tradition, embarrassed by his honesty.”
- ”…beacuse what do the living do but carry the weight of the dead?”

Content Warnings

kiwichill's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bethanyrh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I thought this was going to be more of a mystery/whodunnit book, but it was much more of an exploration of grief and family trauma.

I enjoyed the changing perspectives, looking at the story through Flora, Lulu and Minnie’s eyes

Content Warnings

tracey1981's review

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

Although it was a heartbreaking read, I loved this novel about an older sister investigating her teen brother’s murder in a Vietnamese-Australian community. The narration is from various witnesses’ perspectives including an adorable ten year-old, a high school teacher, and a wedding singer, but keeps it returning to the sister’s perspective. The story offers a lot of depth and thoughtfulness on subjects including intergenerational trauma, parent-child relationships, and adolescent friendships. I found a lot of it relatable and also learned a lot about a community that isn’t my own. Highly recommended, especially for readers of Celeste Ng, Liz Moore and Angie Kim.

Content Warnings

ionarachel's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

aweekinthelife's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.75

cw: death of a sibling

very engaging (listened to the audio on long car rides) and i enjoyed the different perspectives and personalities of all the different characters. not so much a mystery in the sense of a "whodunnit" type but an exploration of all the different individual and collective stories that led up to and past the moment of the tragedy.

Content Warnings