Reviews tagging 'Violence'

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

25 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

kiwichill's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tracey1981's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

ionarachel's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Vomit

zzara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Violence

aweekinthelife's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

moniqueaster's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

Fantastic characterisation. A short and powerful story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, and Xenophobia

sangsmiles's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Colonisation, and War

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was reminiscent of <i> Everything I Never Told You </i> particularly with its themes of family expectations, how to live up to them, and what happens if someone you love might not be the person you thought they were. This narrative explored some heavier themes though, including anti-Asian racism, drug epidemics and the long-term repercussions of the Vietnam War.

Overall this was a decent book. At times it felt as though it went on a bit too long, but it was well-written and heartbreaking. Lien created a strong cast of characters, but sometimes it felt like she wasn't quite sure what to do with them. However, knowing this is a debut, I know that Lien will continue to create great stories and I look forward to seeing what she does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

gmac112's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Grief