Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

5 reviews

teatales's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Overall a good read. I don't think I've read a book with a portrayal of parental mental illness like this before. The penultimate ending felt a little too neat (especially the Newtown sharehouse bit) but I think maybe I just need to stop reading YA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

savannahtrice's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.0

I loved this book!! I went into it expecting a cheesy romance, and ended up with one of the best depictions of mental illness in a YA book I've read. The writing was a little corny at times because after all it is YA, but I thought it flowed really smoothly. Chim really makes you feel for these characters, and as someone who's mother struggles with mental illness, seeing that represented in this book was so comforting. Definitely recommend if you're looking for something easy to read but still important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death

Moderate: Xenophobia

emiliasara's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Suicide attempt

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, and Racial slurs

Minor: Dementia, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

The MC's mother

(whilst experiencing delusions) kills a fish by poking its eyes out

. Said mother also expresses

racist and ableist comments

towards others, due to her mental illness. The sixteen-year-old MC also enters into

a relationship and has several intimate scenes with a boy approximately three years older than her (about nineteen, although his age is never stated explicitly), making this a minor/adult relationship. This is a major plot point.

yuna's review

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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

3.5

This was a raw read, but a necessary one given how taboo mental health/illness is even now, especially in Asian culture. Anna is empathetic and lovable as she struggles to keep it together while having to manage her family's issues alongside everyday teen stuff. I loved her relationship with her siblings (Team Lily all the way). Her grappling with diaspora identity and filial piety and cultural values, and the positives and shortcomings of all those things, will probably be relatable for a lot of readers. 

Liked Anna's arc, though it felt like she regressed at the end

with regard to her mom's relapse and that wasn't really addressed?

There's also a lot more emphasis in the latter half of the book on her chasing this sense of normalcy that's not real, and her realization moment for that is over with really quick and didn't land with much impact for me.

I mostly liked the Anna-Rory relationship if I didn't think about the age gap. He's a good sounding board and one to speak truths to Anna's biases. His character feels only a couple years older than her, very much in 18-19ish range. But if I stop and think about the vague references to how long ago it was since he dropped out of high school I think he's actually more in the 20-21+ range to her 16. Which...I'm not a fan of. Especially since he's written to seem younger, why not have him be younger? Also felt like their sex "scene" (not really a scene, more like two sentences referencing that they did it) was thrown in there just to be low-grade scandalous? Anna doesn't remark on it at all afterward! A girl who is constantly struggling with being a bad Chinese daughter and got all flushy about riding alone in a car with a boy and then her first time gets a sentence and that's it? I'm not buying it. Felt like the age gap and the sex were just there to be edgy or something without any substance.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts