Reviews tagging 'War'

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

30 reviews

tashy49's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

clarezillaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

french_cat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

A roller-coaster. 
Parts of the story are set in different times and different places, and told from the perspective of different characters... all brought together in a big rush at the end of the ride.

At times thoughtful, sometimes scary, and overall enjoyable. 
I loved the characters, even the ones who weren't likeable. The development of the storyline was believable, and very much of its time; very easy to imagine these events happening in Australia, especially given the rise in nationalism around the world in the last decade or more. And very clever, the way the author linked these events with the civil war in Sri Lanka (I had not realised the horrendous extent of it) and Australia's colonial past.
This was a novel that gave the reader plenty to think about, while also managing to have a story and characters who were engaging and entertaining. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and War

sunnyinka's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, and Cultural appropriation

emjane89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

An honest look at racism in contemporary Australia. Interesting and complex characters. Sri Lankan history and culture. A devastating but worthwhile read. The plot became a little convoluted in the end which took away from the overall impact imho. Regardless, a recommended read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and War

biancalouisew's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

a deft weaving of the stories of real, layered characters that encompasses the emotional complexities of family as well a discerning account of the cesspool that is australian media and twitter. it was however, quite refreshing to consume this media hate in a form that wasn't contradictory (news websites dogging on the 24 hour news cycle they contribute to, redditors complaining about twitter users and the like). chandran's vocabulary is simply delictable, a pleasure to read a book with an individual voice this well put-together considering recent fiction (booktok i'm looking at you). my only irk is that it wasn't longer, the story wraps itself up nicely, but more character exploration could've ironed out any disjointed I felt jumping between flashbacks and current life. I'm also a sucker for reminiscing on childhood friendships, which was mentioned very briefly and I wish was explored more. Interested to revisit this book in 20 years to see how it ages, very of the time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Colonisation and War

alyssagj's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Child death, Violence, and War

confused_cat's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Things I love about this book:
- The author writes beautifully and I can feel her love to Sri Lanka and to the Sri Lankan people.
- I learnt more about Sri Lankan civil war and the hardship of being an immigrant.
- I had a good discussion with a diverse mix of people about racism (in Australia) thanks to this book. Learned that accidental racism is still racism. 

Small criticsm:
- Characters don't seem real and are just mouthpieces for the author to tell the story. E.g. These characters are so well adjusted and successful despite of their horrific background. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, and War

sop17hie's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Much sadder and brutal than I expected from the beautiful cover

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

katy_heath's review against another edition

I listened to the audiobook so I may spell names wrong:
Nicky and Gareth are both terrible people, but only Nicky is afforded the grace of grief as an explanation. Even though the author goes as far as to explain that Gareth is hurt and confused by her distance, Nicky is seen as being “in the right” although she’s the one HAVING AN AFFAIR. I couldn’t wade through any more sanctimonious bs about how awful Gareth supposedly is because he’s trying to connect with his wife and she’s cold shouldering him. The stories about Sri Lanka and even some of Reuben’s story are beautiful but I couldn’t stand hearing how much of a victim Nicky is when she didn’t even try to communicate, just ran straight to another wounded man. 

Perhaps if I try a print version, that doesn’t have the readers emotions attached, I’ll get further.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, and War