Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

9 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

taro4lyfer's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.75

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (Chai Time) has beautiful imagery, multiple points of views from diverse characters, insights into the trauma for Sri Lankan Tamil migrants, as well as a striking portrayal of the Australian landscape regarding immigrants and community. 

The characters are well thought out with their own motivations, desires, and beliefs while both settings (Sri Lanka and Cinnamon Gardens) are captivatingly written. 

Chai Time also won the Miles Franklin award in 2023, which is well deserved. 

The only reason it isn’t 5 stars is because it is definitely the kind of book that requires content and trigger warnings, which it didn't include. Hopefully future editions will include content warnings in the book or a mention online - the online content warnings so far are user written on storygraph or AI generated based off of reviews. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

All of the trigger warning concepts are explored through the character arcs and repeatedly brought up during the story to expand on how they affect the characters emotionally.

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

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

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

cathy61r's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Child death, Dementia, Death of parent, and Colonisation

michael070's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Child abuse and Rape

katiiekhaos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

3.5

This book is beautifully written and has a rich world and characters, however I found myself getting confused with the multiple time lines and so many main characters. I wanted to love this one more, however I can tell the author is incredibly talented and will definitely pick up more of their books in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Death of parent