Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Three-Body Problem

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

58 reviews

nny_c's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

‘1967: Ye Wenjie witnesses Red Guards beat her father to death during China’s Cultural Revolution’

— not a spoiler, but the first sentence from the back of the cover and the first thing that happens in the book itself.

For me, this was the first and only scene I truly enjoyed, the only one to make me want to go back to reading as soon as I had the time. But after this captivating start, the intensity levels dropped dramatically and never quite made it close to the top again.

Overall, the parts in which we follow Ye Wenjie’s life were consistently more enjoyable for me to read than the rest of the book. She is the only mildly interesting character, which can in part be attributed to the Execution Scene in the beginning. It is through her that we are told the history of China’s Cultural Revolution, repressions, political agenda, and the state of the scientific community. But even here the book’s biggest shortcoming undercuts the enjoyment — this is by far the most exposition-heavy book I’ve read in a long time.

The very few characters that actually matter and stick around for long enough — Ye Wenjie, Wang Miao, Da Shi — just have things happen to them most of the time, their agency insignificant compared to the amount of information the book tries to force on you. And when they actually do something, although their motivations are for the most part clear, the lack of any kind of discernible personality behind these names on the page makes the stakes that much lower.

However, I feel like I must mention, that my issue with the amount of exposition, especially when it came to unbearably frequent crush-courses on physical phenomena and occasional mathematical theory, is much more personal because I have studied astrophysics. So I don’t want to make claims about how interesting these parts of the book may be to someone not connected to this topic at all. But I still believe that the delivery could have used a lot of work: the information is just being monologued to one of the main characters by slightly less important ones, the most ‘creative’ storytelling device was framing some info-dumping as an interrogation record by the very end.

I do feel bad for talking about this book in such a negative light, but it does surprise me just how praised it is, considering the experience I got from it. I can attribute at least part of its popularity in the West to a fascination with the themes of revolution and repressions under China’s communist party. But considering where I am from, it is an inseparable part of who I am and my culture, so these topics lack shock value for me.

Granted, it is only the first part of a trilogy, but I cannot imagine picking up the other two books, at least not in the foreseeable future.

5/10 — barely finished it tbh.

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braynard's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Starts slow, gets faster. The science sections are a bit complex at times and the plot isn't super action heavy, but the story line is very interesting. I finished the whole thing in two reading sections.

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bestknownfor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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soitis's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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tungstenmouse's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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frankensteinteen's review against another edition

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this was brilliant!! I was on the edge on my seat for so much of it!! i loved the blend of literal physics, aliens, and some history (both Chinese and historical figures). i actually understood most of the physics (except for a tiny bit at the end), which I am pretty chuffed about!! i loved the philosophical points about humanity and advancements in science, also the fact that you can't advance without understanding the basics, love it all. the writing was gorgeous, even after a translation, still amazing!! so excited for the next book!!

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fruya's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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