Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

5 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Such a strange story! Oddly (appropriately) enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Child death, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, and Death of parent

jayisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

3.75

I really enjoyed Zhang’s debut novel, so I entered Land of Milk and Honey with relatively high expectations. Much like How Much of These Hills Is Gold, Zhang delivered exquisite lyricism and a distinct writing style that will be hit-or-misses for readers. She also presented some really interesting themes in Land of Milk and Honey—especially in relation to a dystopian world—which was a variety that included beauty, social class, pleasure, and climate change. I will say, though, that the themes were not overtly stated and might require the reader to tease them out, which could be frustrating given the prose. I also thought it would have been nice if Zhang had stuck with fewer themes to explore in-depth as opposed to the multiple that she seemed to have wanted to discuss.

I think Land of Milk and Honey fell flat for me because I wasn’t entirely invested in either the story or the characters. Regarding the story, there certainly was a plot, but it was a very slippery one to grasp that resulted in me losing interest over time. As for the characters and their relationships with one another, they were interesting enough, but I didn’t think they were particularly memorable. With all this said, I will say that I think I may have picked this book up at the wrong time and just wasn’t in the right headspace for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Car accident

juliusclearance's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This is one of those books that is incredible but I’ll never read again. I cried at the end. It was so compelling. I couldn’t read it for more than fifteen minutes at a time or I knew it would ruin me. It did anyway. I cried again when I talked about it in bookclub. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Minor: Body shaming, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

dominika_benmichael's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Child death, and Eating disorder

dystopia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Classism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Car accident

Minor: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death