Reviews with content warning for Racism - All You Can Ever Know

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

17 reviews

virgilius's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

lottiegasp's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

This is a beautiful memoir of Chung's experience as a Korean child adopted by white parents. She describes her childhood in which she was the only Asian person she knew in a family who couldn't conceive of the racism she experiences. It gives some good insights into how adoptive parents can take steps to let their child know about their history and culture and be supported in their unique experiences. Chung also speaks about her reunion with her birth family, which was with some family members complicated but with others moving and turned into a beautiful relationship.

Content Warnings

leweylibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I read her.second memoir before this one lol but I did like this one better. The religious bits were a lot less frequent, but there were a LOT more about pregnancy and kids which I wasn't a huge fan of. Nevertheless, I know how big of a role those things played in her adoption story, so I get it. It was a really compelling and complicated story, and I'm impressed that she wrote about it so eloquently.

I can identity in some ways because of my being a test tube baby and my parents' separation when I was in early middle school. I got a lot of the same questions about wanting to know my "real" dad, but pushing my mind several steps further to consider not only having no biological relations around you AND being a visibly different race from your family...that's intense.

I feel like I still have a lot of questions having read her second book first, like what thoughts and emotions she was having about her biological family whom she did meet and talked to while her adopted parents were having their health issues and eventually dying. It was really lovely seeing her relationship with her sister take form, especially since my relationship with my own sister is a little like it, even if we aren't related by blood.

Content Warnings

tesslaah's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Chung does not try to tell anyone else’s story but her own and yet you can easily enter into her experiences with her. The reader gets to travel with Chung through her process of figuring out how she tells that story in a way that feels almost gentle and certainly loving. There was honesty with how she explained her perspective while also being respectful of others in her life. She doesn’t try to speak for her family or anyone else who has been effected by adoption. The adoption experience is unique & nuanced to each family and person and I really appreciated how Chung articulated that message.

Content Warnings

whatchareadingheather's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Nicole's story is equally beautiful and gut wrenching. I think this book can appeal to a lot of different types of people regardless of being an adoptee as she truthfully discusses topics of identity crisis, racism, motherhood, and tuning into your heritage after not having been fully immersed in it. This is a fantastic companion to 'Crying In H Mart' and should be required reading for anyone looking to do transracial adoptions or adopt a child in general.

Content Warnings

erins_bookshelf_'s review

Go to review page

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I usually say that I’m not a fan of nonfiction books, but I might need to stop saying that because this is the second memoir I have read and enjoyed a lot (maybe I just need to read more memoirs instead)
Anyway this book was really interesting, the author is a really good storyteller and I really like the writing style in this, it felt very personal and I liked that a lot :)

Content Warnings