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dhishfish's review against another edition
3.0
whoever gave benjamin law a pen does not have a brain
(but otherwise the book was okay)
(but otherwise the book was okay)
jehsface's review against another edition
3.0
For tutoring. Was a bit slow and boring at times, but otherwise, okay.
museofmages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
frecklefury's review against another edition
2.0
Perhaps due to their brevity (only several pages each), the stories in this book present oversimplified analyses of Asian Australian life (terms like "banana", "east meets west" used). I can see the its significance when it was published in 2008, but eleven years on it feels outdated, with many of the narratives perpetuating antiblack sentiment that's rampant in (particularly east) Asian communities.
msteasam's review against another edition
3.0
As a white Australian woman, I'm really glad that I read this book.
Obviously I couldn't really relate to a lot of the stories on a personal level because my experience as an Australian was so different to theirs, but it was great to see what kind of struggles Asian Australians go through, and see Australia from a common, if different perspective to mine.
The thing that I liked most about it was the discussions that it opened up with my friends. My best friend in school was a Fijian-Indian who came to Australia when she was a few months old. She loved this book and her own experiences with racism - even from other children's parents! - could have easily been written into this book. It was good to hear about how her cultural identity was influenced by living in Australia and we probably wouldn't have spoken about it at all if we weren't assigned to read this book.
Obviously I couldn't really relate to a lot of the stories on a personal level because my experience as an Australian was so different to theirs, but it was great to see what kind of struggles Asian Australians go through, and see Australia from a common, if different perspective to mine.
The thing that I liked most about it was the discussions that it opened up with my friends. My best friend in school was a Fijian-Indian who came to Australia when she was a few months old. She loved this book and her own experiences with racism - even from other children's parents! - could have easily been written into this book. It was good to hear about how her cultural identity was influenced by living in Australia and we probably wouldn't have spoken about it at all if we weren't assigned to read this book.
ari_reading_'s review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed reading these stories, they leave an impact on you, they are short and profound and I think its something everyone needs to read.