Reviews

I felt like the characters were extremely underdeveloped, and a book that is meant to be a multigenerational family story needs fully developed characters. I would be hard pressed to describe any of the main characters beyond a few superficial observations. I felt as if I was kept an arms length away from them, as if they were hiding something from me.
This is told in three parts, in three different perspectives, and each part felt like a different genre…which COULD be cool, but these just felt disjointed. It felt as if the author didn’t want to fully commit to anything, resulting in the book feeling all over the place. I also didn’t like that each POV section ended right as something big happened - that ties back into character development. We never see the development because the section ends right when it might happen.
There is a really misplaced, underdeveloped aspect of magical realism that really took me out of the story.
Lots of telling. Very little showing, very little feeling. Some lovely sentences & observations! But ultimately, I just felt bored and uninvested.

So yeah, this one was just not a good match for me. That’s not to say it’s a bad book, just not one that worked for me.

hello_neko's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

sleepingsaha's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Khong has written a compelling story and I kept wondering what happened next. I also appreciated how I felt empathy for so many of the characters; it wasn't easy to take sides! My biggest critique was I felt that sometimes things were told in flashes and I wanted to see more of the plot instead of just being told what happened. I also think some of the magical realism and scientific elements could have been fleshed out a bit more or more integrated into the book. Overall, I'm glad I read this and I think this would make a great summer read!

elena_thebooklady's review

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challenging informative inspiring 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

5.0

mtun's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

emilyfeldmesser's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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