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transquake's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
belle2008's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Death, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: War and Violence
ninahuynh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Animal death
Minor: Religious bigotry
natcortes's review
5.0
Graphic: Violence and Grief
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Animal death, and Blood
olive_lol's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Homophobia
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Cannibalism
ellornaslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The art is stunning, and the way the stories of the mother and son are told through a mixture of their real world experience combined with the messages of fairytales is brilliant. I especially loved the information given by the author, Trung Le Nguyen, after the acknowledgements on his inspiration for both this important story he was telling as well as the comparison of graphic novels to a hybrid language.
I will give a warning though that as this is also a story about an LGQBTIA+ kid struggling with his identity in the 90s that there is a brief reference to the horrible, tragic murder of Matthew Shephard which was a big topic in the media at that time in regards to hate crimes and definitely relevant to the fears of coming out. There is also in regards to the immigration part of the story as far as mentions of loss of a parent & re-education(there might be some others I missed). I wanted anyone going into this graphic novel to be as informed as possible in case they aren’t able to handle it or need preparation to be able to do so.
Even so, I still think this is a beautiful story worth reading and highly recommend it.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Outing, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Colonisation
I wasn’t sure if there were content warning tags appropriate for the mention of re-education and having to flee your country the way that is depicted. If so, please let me know so I might add them to my review.wireblight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Cannibalism
novella42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Cannibalism
Minor: Religious bigotry
mattyb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Violence, Murder, and Gore
Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent
maple_dove's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The art is beautiful and eye-catching. I loved the character designs too! The ending is fantastic and wraps up the whole book so well.
No matter what, I know I can't do this book justice, so I'm just going to encourage you to read it.
Favorite Quote:
"<My Vietnamese is weakening, every day. I'm changing.
My past and present selves speak two different languages.
It feels like I died on that boat. And I'm still stuck in the middle of the ocean.
Far away from my mother . . .
. . . and far away from my son.
I'm afraid Tiến doesn't think he can tell me things.
I'm sure he can feel it. I know I do.
And I wish it wasn't that way.Did my mother feel that way? Did she feel like this all those years I was away?>"
Graphic: Murder and Child abuse
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Gore, Homophobia, and War
Minor: Physical abuse, Violence, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death, and Grief
Child marriage (Minor)