Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien

19 reviews

karenperry93's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder, and Drug use

moniqueaster's review

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: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Xenophobia, and Racism

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

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

gmac112's review

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

any_bethany's review

dark funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Domestic abuse

ceedy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism, Murder, and War

tarnaflake's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Racism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Grief, and Hate crime

internationalreads's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Cursing, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Death

katarinabee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Really great exploration of 1990s Cabramatta, the impacts of intergenerational trauma, and the toxicity of perfectionism. I liked how each chapter was from a different character's perspective - you really developed so much empathy for each person's situation, and how their own world view / personality etc motivated their behaviour.  Having previously worked in the Cabramatta/ Fairfield area myself for a number of years, it was personally really interesting to understand more about what Cabramatta was like 20 years ago (and that some of the struggles of that time are still likely impacting people today).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Addiction, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

jayisreading's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

It’s so nice to read stories that focus on the diaspora outside of the United States. In this case, All That’s Left Unsaid focuses on the Vietnamese diaspora in Cabramatta, a suburb outside of Sydney. This is a heartbreaking story in many ways, drawing attention to the difficulties that shaped the Vietnamese community of this suburb, as well as the life of the protagonist, Ky. While this seems to be marketed as a mystery (which it technically is, since Ky is trying to find out who murdered her brother), this didn’t really read to me as a mystery book. To me, it was more a contemplation on the struggles of this Vietnamese community dealing with unchecked racism, immigration, drug abuse and addiction, the traumas of war which, inevitably, leads to generational trauma. In other words, if you’re hoping for a standard murder mystery, this book won’t meet that expectation.

All things considered, I thought Lien addressed these topics quite well, in the sense that none of them read as superficial or an afterthought. That being said, I think the pacing and execution of the story itself was a bit rough. It took some time to get used to the jumping back and forth between the past and present, which I felt disrupted the overall flow of the book. As a result, this affected the pacing. I didn’t feel engaged during some parts of the book, while other moments were gripping.

Ultimately, though, I think it is worth picking up this book, especially if you’re interested in reading diasporic literature that doesn’t center USians.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Drug use and Child abuse

Minor: War, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse