Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

40 reviews

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

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

terranovanz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

livingbeyondbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

5.0

This exceptional text was my first read of 2024. It is a timeless and poignant piece. I can’t recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War

shornified's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Colonisation, and War

eloiseatthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

This book was an emotional rollercoaster but well worth reading.

The only piece I'm not really sure if I liked or understood was Gareth - it felt like he went back and forth in an illogical way, but maybe that was the intention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and War