Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

32 reviews

laceyc1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Xenophobia

laurendenton's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

I think that this is a difficult book for me to rate because of the fact that it is split into 7 different essays, some of which work in relation to others and some which stand completely alone. The first three essays, which spoke directly in regards to the title Minor Feelings, were extremely eye-opening and affirming to my past experiences with racism and sexism. I was able to, while reading those initial sections, come to the conclusion that the majority of my own racial experiences have been "minor feelings", meaning that they have been subtle and distorted by my own self-hating memory. I have not been pulled over or directly called the n-word, but I have had more indirect experiences that have made me, in retrospect, wonder if maybe I was overreacting the entire time. Similarly, my voicing of such events has been met with sharp dismissals that only further my personal disbelief. The following three essays for me were, to put it bluntly, unremarkable. As stand-alones, perhaps in a separate collection of essays or as their own works entirely, I would've found them to be exceptionally well-done. I was personally not able to make clear connections between these essays and the overall theme of the book and its title. Perhaps if they had been fitted in between the initial three essays, I would've been more appreciative of their content, but because I was so astonished initially, the second half of the book was rather underwhelming to me. The essay entitled "An Education", particularly, seemed out-of-place with the other essays, while "The Portrait of an Artist" was more connected to the idea of "Minor Feelings". Cathy Park Hong is, without a doubt, an incredible writer whose works I will eagerly indulge in in the future, but only half of these essays left me in utter shock at their precision and beauty. I have found this to be the case with another essay collection that I have read, and so it is hard to give a definite rating for a book that has ignited me just as much as it has left me unsatisfied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexism, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, War, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy, Slavery, Addiction, Police brutality, Confinement, Fatphobia, Genocide, and Grief

becca_sb1316's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Ableism and Bullying

nicklerew's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

baekcl's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

such great language around the real complexities of identifying as an Asian American and the turmoil that comes with it. Such vibrant yet blunt language around it, also providing a hopeful outlook on identity and systems around us that perpetuate boxed in identity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Murder

sammies_shelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

theoceanrose's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

tsnhjhn's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

absolutely amazing book, almost every sentence is quotable.

felt very reflective after reading about my own asam experience and asam solidarity.

hong does a beautiful job of interlacing incredibly personal anectodes with connections to broader themes in a way that doesn’t feel forced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

annayareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

Overall, I really loved this book. Hong's words were both familiar and new to me as a Black femme in the US. Cathy Park Hong weaves the personal and the general together in a way that I wouldn't call masterful because that would do a disservice to the work that she does. She is careful to remind us that we cannot hold her words as some universal truth about all Asian Americans (she even troubles this group and who is held by it). One point of contention I had was during her discussion of cultural exchange. I come from this again as a Black American, but I think there is value in gatekeeping cultures from becoming mainstream. I don't think much has been gained from Black culture becoming mainstream; in fact, I think it has resulted in white faces being able to represent Black culture and divest it from its roots. Even though I can't completely agree with this aspect of one of her essays ("Bad English"), I can't express enough how valuable I think it is. I do not delude myself into thinking that just because I read this book that I understand wholistically the Asian American experience (or even the Korean American experience), but I have learned and I have felt and that is something we all need.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, and Domestic abuse

green_rabbit's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault