Reviews tagging 'Death'

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

19 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

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

aseel_reads's review against another edition

I was never interested in reading this book but then a friend gifted it to me and I thought I'd try, I just don't care and I have so many other books I would rather read. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Racism, and Xenophobia

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

whatisbethreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

drellejay's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Blood, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual assault

vivisms_82's review against another edition

emotional sad

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Good book and worth reading. I'm in two minds though - I like many (if not most) of the book - the detailed description of the war in Sri Lanka, British colonisation, the immigrant experience when you look different, have an accent, pray differently etc - I get that. The racism and violence are absolutely valid and I get what she was trying to say but it became too much too soon in escalation that I think it lost some of it's impact, reducing it's believability as a whole when lumped all together like that in a short period of time. I was thinking "yes, this is a book we need right now" but then it became relentless in bringing the point home and I was a little bummed. I'm glad it's become part of book clubs and people are discussing some topics that they otherwise mayn't have felt comfortable bringing up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence

mills33's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Grief, and Colonisation