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chonkeyhong's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
whatmeganreads's review against another edition
2.0
I think this book could have been something great for me, but I couldn't get past all the word/food associations. I found that part completely distracting.
mycouscous's review against another edition
4.0
Monique Truong's Bitter in the Mouth is an elegantly written novel that expands the world of Southern literature with its Vietnamese narrator, Linda(mint). In an age of increasingly globalization and migration, Truong challenges the typical definition of Southerner.
I loved the varied relationships in the book, from the very real girlhood friendship between Linda and Kelly to Linda seeking solace with her great uncle Baby Harper. Linda struggles with being an outsider while grappling with a condition called synethsesia, which elicits certain tastes depending on the word she hears. The tastes combined with the dialog create a vivid and curious effect, making the reader take pause to ponder Linda's condition. It could feel forced, but Truong makes it work even as she constructs serious conversations in which Linda's family tries to make sense of the past. I'll definitely recommend this to fans of North Carolina and literary fiction.
I loved the varied relationships in the book, from the very real girlhood friendship between Linda and Kelly to Linda seeking solace with her great uncle Baby Harper. Linda struggles with being an outsider while grappling with a condition called synethsesia, which elicits certain tastes depending on the word she hears. The tastes combined with the dialog create a vivid and curious effect, making the reader take pause to ponder Linda's condition. It could feel forced, but Truong makes it work even as she constructs serious conversations in which Linda's family tries to make sense of the past. I'll definitely recommend this to fans of North Carolina and literary fiction.
gemmak's review
3.0
I picked this up because my friend stumbled upon it in the library. Honestly, I'm surprised it's not something that had come to my attention anyway, because it checks off so many boxes on the "things Gemma likes" list.
But I gave it three stars! Why? Maybe it's because I've read so many contemporary novels that make use of synesthesia, and I'm beginning to find it lazy emotional shorthand. Linda, the main character, has a particular language-taste variation, but I'm not sure why it matters to this story. The book manages to contend with alienation and otherness anyway, and other than allowing for extra figurative language and a good title, it doesn't seem to do much. The other place the book falters for me is when it includes tales from North Carolina history -- those moments seem to be evading the story the book actually wants to tell.
Nevertheless, this is a rich coming of age story full of compelling characters. Even if it falls apart a bit in the last act (as in so many coming of age stories, there's a reckoning with the past that I found a bit put-on), it's a complete world, full of people who keep secrets from each other and whose identities are malleable, always in flux. I don't want to say more because it'll ruin it for you, but the structure of the book gives it a second-half twist that is brilliant in execution and gives you a window into what Linda's experience of alienation must really feel like.
But I gave it three stars! Why? Maybe it's because I've read so many contemporary novels that make use of synesthesia, and I'm beginning to find it lazy emotional shorthand. Linda, the main character, has a particular language-taste variation, but I'm not sure why it matters to this story. The book manages to contend with alienation and otherness anyway, and other than allowing for extra figurative language and a good title, it doesn't seem to do much. The other place the book falters for me is when it includes tales from North Carolina history -- those moments seem to be evading the story the book actually wants to tell.
Nevertheless, this is a rich coming of age story full of compelling characters. Even if it falls apart a bit in the last act (as in so many coming of age stories, there's a reckoning with the past that I found a bit put-on), it's a complete world, full of people who keep secrets from each other and whose identities are malleable, always in flux. I don't want to say more because it'll ruin it for you, but the structure of the book gives it a second-half twist that is brilliant in execution and gives you a window into what Linda's experience of alienation must really feel like.
gubuchu's review
4.0
I did not expect any of the twists that came to this book. Except for like, one. So when everything happened I was honestly mind-blown.
manogirl's review
4.0
I can envision a scenario in which another reader has a violently bad reaction to this book. There's a roundabout quality to it that I can imagine would be infuriating to the wrong reader. But I found it satisfying. A little like unpeeling an orange. Or unwrapping a present slowly. I just liked the tumbling way it arrived at a really soft, small (but satisfying) ending. I don't know how else to describe it. It's a quirky book. It unrolls in a quirky way. And I liked that.
A few things kept it from being a full five-star review: the chapter openings were....ponderous. I really didn't get them at all. And by the end of the book, the tastes italicized after words...well, paragraphs are hard to read when every word is attached to another italicized word that IS something else entirely. You'd have to read it to really get what I'm saying. It's distracting, is all.
I can't tell you whether you're going to like this book. I have no idea. Like I said, I have a good idea that it's not for everyone. But something about it just really clicked for me.
A few things kept it from being a full five-star review: the chapter openings were....ponderous. I really didn't get them at all. And by the end of the book, the tastes italicized after words...well, paragraphs are hard to read when every word is attached to another italicized word that IS something else entirely. You'd have to read it to really get what I'm saying. It's distracting, is all.
I can't tell you whether you're going to like this book. I have no idea. Like I said, I have a good idea that it's not for everyone. But something about it just really clicked for me.
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