Reviews with content warning for Child death - Ghost Music

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Ghost Music by An Yu

35 reviews

sydthewitch's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

A lovely book exploring identity, desire, and non-violent trauma with a splash of magical realism. This book holds deep compassion and hope, if a little slow-paced and frustrating at times.

Content Warnings

gossameralbum's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

"But then I can’t help but think, if I can already watch each day of my life play out like an old recording, am I still alive?’"
"How do we endure living with a mind that can’t stop, starting the moment we’re born until the day we die?"
there were beautiful quotes like these here and there, however the whole thing with mushrooms and the color orange felt a bit incomplete and devoid of meaning, or maybe i didn't get it. it was beautifully written though.

Content Warnings

lidia7's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

cgm42's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

gorgeously written

Content Warnings

ashwaar's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I read Ghost Music in less than a week because it’s so short and I had a pretty good time with it. I’d seen it in a few bookstores and was intrigued by the title and cover. I found it pretty interesting and full of symbolism but I don’t think I fully understood a lot of what the author was trying to say. She packed a lot into not very many pages and I felt like there were quite a few loose threads at the end, but it was still engaging and worth the read.

Content Warnings

james1star's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book started out well and I was very intrigued to see what followed. The first person POV from children’s piano teacher Song Yan was gripping as she was getting used to living with her mother-in-law in Beijing, trying to talk with her husband about starting a family and recollecting about missed opportunities in her past. And then boxes of Yunnan mushrooms sent from a great ‘missing’ pianist arrive coupled with dreams with a talking ghost mushroom start to complicate things as well as the unraveling of Song Yan’s husband Bowen’s past comes out too. There is more to the plot in some sense but from here on out it does lose its foundations and goes off in a maybe a few too many tangents or at least a ‘no plot all vibes’ notion to an extent. I sometimes like this but it definitely lost me as the book developed around the 40% mark onwards. I still understand what was going on but I didn’t really care so much I’d say and this continued till the end so in many ways I do wish I DNF’d it, the ending also left maybe some lose ends. The writing was alright and maybe if I got on board with the magical realism or abstract elements more I’d have enjoyed it or understood some symbolism possibly too but yh, take it as you will.

Content Warnings