Reviews

Activities of Daily Living by Lisa Hsiao Chen

obw_'s review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.75

Basically an ode to projects, with interesting reflections abt time/life/purpose, but not a super engaging story

pastavoyage's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

mcrystal1000's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I feel like the concept of this book was really cool. I liked how it looked at performance art while also the life of the father at the same time. Idk I feel like something didn’t quite click for me to get invested in the characters. 

alanakuni's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-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? No

4.0

longl's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

allysonbogie's review against another edition

DNF

victoriathuyvi's review against another edition

3.0

2 stars for the story as I felt it was pretty threadbare. But 4 stars for the interesting and thought-provoking references to other artists and works of literature, philosophy, etc. I'd love to reread those bits for more reflection. As a novel, this felt lacking. I would have loved to see more connection between Alice's father's sickness and her projects, especially inspired by Tehching Hsieh, and the use that plot to ground all the insightful reflections on creativity and time that felt otherwise meandering in the form of a novel. This is definitely a book I'll flip through again for inspiration because the concept is A+.

tulscip's review against another edition

2.0

I feel bad giving this a two bc it wasn't terribly written and it had a concept for sure
I just didn't fully get what I wanted from this book and I think the metaphor aspect went too far. Maybe I'm dumb and just need things more concretely portrayed
I was very intrigued in the beginning and then just got annoyed

lucywan's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

bentohbox's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this but it didn't really come together for me until the end.. otherwise it felt like a lot of periodic spurts of prose combined with too many other pieces going on