Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

13 reviews

drlainie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Excrement, Vomit, Child abuse, Classism, Xenophobia, Deportation, and Animal death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Grief, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Cancer, and Racial slurs

Minor: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Misogyny, Stalking, Abortion, Bullying, and Sexism

adrienne_rennie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Deportation, Chronic illness, Medical content, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Bullying, Racism, and Cancer

Minor: Hate crime, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic relationship

hollydyer328's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

Certainly a challenging story of Qian Julie Wang's experience growing up as an undocumented Chinese immigrant in New York City, and her navigating barriers of poverty and healthcare. The story is solely focused on her childhood from ages ~7-11, and it went into specific details that I felt were unnecessary and slowed down the pacing. My favorite was the last 2 chapters and I wanted to hear more of her experience as she got older and dealt with the demons from her childhood. 

Because the story is so focused on these ~5 years of her life in the US, the memoir came off as her processing childhood trauma. It's pretty bleak throughout with little redemption or coming of age, except it is slightly mentioned by the very end. This story almost feels too personal for the general public to read (and purchase), and I'm not sure what the takeaways are other than awareness and empathy for one account of the undocumented immigrant experience. 

I listened on audio read by the author, and the narration was helpful for the pronunciation of Chinese phrases, but the tone lacked the emotion that would have enhanced the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit and Deportation

Moderate: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, and Domestic abuse

anniover's review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Racism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Stalking, Bullying, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infidelity and Cancer

xeniba's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I felt this was beautifully written, though difficult to read at times because of the trauma the author experienced. I’m grateful to the author for being so transparent and sharing her story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Child abuse, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mildlypretentiousreader's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

“Our family was closest in the face of pain.”

“Why were we expected to speak English while praising Americans for even the crumbiest dribble of Chinese?” 

Qian Julie Wang’s Beautiful Country details her life as an undocumented immigrant in New York City. As a young child, Qian and her mother reunite with her father in “Mei Guo,” the Chinese word for America meaning “Beautiful Country.” Mei Guo turns out to be anything but beautiful. 

Told through the lenses of a child, we peek into the fearful and harrowing life of an undocumented Chinese immigrant family. The Wang family is forced to live 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Deportation, Racial slurs, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Stalking

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I really don't know if I would have been able to manage this memoire without listening to the Audiobook, deftly narrated by the author. Being self-narrated it dodged a lot of messy casting issues such as having a reader who could not pronounce Chinese. I'm thankful for that.

Beautiful Country is a direct translation of the Chinese term for USA  美国 - Mĕiguó . Whenever I hear " Mĕiguó " spoken, I picture the characters in my mind. A year working at a Chinese Newspaper will do that to a nerdy lass who likes languages. I have always been struck by how ironic the name is. The memoire written is an awakening from a childhood where the author needs to protect herself over and again, from the perils of being an "illegal" migrant. When any false word could get you deported, you learn to say what people want to hear. 

From sweat shops, and bigoted teachers, buying the cheapest food possible, and making do with forgaed treasures, this is a candid story of poverty, Racism, and survival. I found the descriptions reminded me of many things that have been part of my life, and drew stark contrast between some of my own experiences as a White New Zealander ( Pākeha ) living in a country with social security. 

I expect that some of this recounting may be affronting to those who are unaware of the type of life that oppressed people can easily fall into. The story is that of someone who has survived, but doesn't really feel as saccharine as a lot of inspiration stories can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and Sexism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Deportation, Grief, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Abortion, and Gun violence

savvylit's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Beautiful Country is a damning description of the emotional damage experienced by undocumented families in the United States. From the moment they arrive, Qian and her parents' lives are constantly dictated by the fear of being discovered as illegal. Excruciating medical concerns are ignored until it's nearly too late. Her mother, who was a professor of Computer Science in China, is forced to take exploitative and horrific jobs just to survive. Qian attends public elementary school and feels pressure to constantly portray herself as a born-American -- even early on when she can barely speak English. Her parents buckle under the stress and fear, becoming emotionally abusive and depressed.

As a whole, Beautiful Country deftly unveils the powerful myth of the American Dream. Though Wang does eventually become a powerful lawyer, it is in spite of America -- not because of it. This memoir is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the challenges of living as an undocumented child in the U.S.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, Classism, Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Domestic abuse

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Blood, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Bullying, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion