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stormblessedt's review
dark
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
Grace Talusan writes about difficult topics in a straightforward but vulnerable way, allowing the readers to feel emotion without having to spell it out for us. This is such a hard, painful read at times but I will be recommending this book to people from now on. It deserves more reads!
yannareads's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence
aidrielle's review
4.0
-i'm always so hyper-critical of fil-ams (for good reason, i think), but i actually enjoyed reading this memoir!
-reading about grace's experience as a young filipino immigrant gave me insight into what my life could have been had my family decided to go through with immigrating to canada
-i like how honest she is in telling her story. i feel strangely proud of her.
-this might sound weird, but i also really liked reading about a dysfunctional filipino family. it was the representation i needed!!! especially since only large, tight-knit, happy filipino families are shown in media. thank u grace for giving me this representation. her father and mine are almost identical.
-reading about grace's experience as a young filipino immigrant gave me insight into what my life could have been had my family decided to go through with immigrating to canada
-i like how honest she is in telling her story. i feel strangely proud of her.
-this might sound weird, but i also really liked reading about a dysfunctional filipino family. it was the representation i needed!!! especially since only large, tight-knit, happy filipino families are shown in media. thank u grace for giving me this representation. her father and mine are almost identical.
booksandcoffeerequired's review
5.0
I had this one checked out since pre-quarantine in March, and even though it took me until it was due back at the end of June to read it, I’m SO GLAD I did. After reading an interview Grace did awhile ago with her cousin Meredith for Bitch Media back at the beginning of the year, I knew I had to read this book. The memoir focuses on the sexual abuse she suffered as a child from her grandfather, and the trauma it instilled, as well as living with a family history of both violence and illness and how that has impacted her own life, as well as the racism she has dealt with from childhood as a Filipino immigrant. Her writing is so beautiful and eye opening to her lived experiences, and I felt myself transported back in time to each moment she discusses, and felt very physical and emotional pain she dealt with throughout her journey to become whole again. Her story is one of how generational trauma can swallow a family whole, unless the new generation works to heal the wounds inflicted upon their forefathers and mothers and repeated through them. It’s such an important subject, and Talusan makes it wholly hers, showing the strength and bravery, but also the tenderness and vulnerability, she has cultivated to come through the other side, not unscathed, but broken and beautiful.