Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan

15 reviews

pobaw24's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Death of parent, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Suicide

fionnlister's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Violence, and Mental illness

sqacedvst's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Pregnancy and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide

cassreading's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

Little vignettes that trace the lives and connections of Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese-American daughters. Beautifully written, complex women in even more complicated relationships, exactly my cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Racism, Rape, and War

kappafrog's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Grief, War, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Car accident, Cannibalism, Gore, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Death, Eating disorder, and Injury/injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Trafficking, and Murder

dorothea03's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

It was a lot different than I thought it was going to be going into it. It felt almost like a collection of short stories but the characters related to one another. I really enjoyed it. It made me look back and think about different things in my life and I definitely cried at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Addiction, and Suicide

marissasa's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book tells the stories of 4 immigrant Chinese women and each of their Chinese-American daughters. Although I like multiple POVs for the fact that they never get monotonous, they almost always end up with some characters being less developed or having less time focused on their stories, and that is definitely the case with this one. I enjoyed all the mothers' POVs and the look into their lives before they came to America, but honestly didn't think the daughters' stories matched them at all in how interesting and nuanced it made their situations. All the mothers had trauma relating to the loss of their children and families, marriage issues, being displaced from their homes, and their daughters' not understanding them. All of the daughters then had generational trauma, mommy issues, and a disconnect from their Chinese identities. The thing that made me dislike almost all of the daughters' stories was that except for Jing-mei, all of their POVs revolved around their troubles with their white husbands or boyfriends. The whole time I'm reading about them just thinking "free my sisters from the shackles of white men lmao". I wish they were given more depth and character development that was unrelated to their relationships with white men, or at least having just one character go through that so that the daughters' stories weren't so similar and forgettable. Jing-mei is the exception to this and I definitely thought her and her mother Suyuan's stories were the most memorable, and I do wish they had more time for their stories than they got. I did love the ending and how the story came full circle with the first and last chapter being Jing-mei's though, and the emotional conclusion felt satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, War, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Grief

counciloffrogs's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This reflection on mother-daughter relationships and the turmoil they can experience is beautifully written. It clearly shows the humanity of families and the shortcomings and misinterpretations that can complicate relationships. I absolutely loved this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Abortion, and Child death

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Grief

Minor: Suicide and War

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, Abandonment, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

cammiem8's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

While I’m not a fan of the vignette style generally, Tan’s prose made this the best application of that style that I’ve read. Each chapter is a very human story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Racism, Abandonment, and Sexual violence