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readwitheel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Ling Ma skillfully blurs the quantifiers of what it means to be sick and healthy, fevered and unfevered,
Candace's personality and life-choices felt distant and almost mechanical to me, even if there were writing descriptions of her laughing, being upset, etc. It was almost as if she were just living the life and having the feelings that she felt like she was supposed to have, rather that trusting that she was living the life she actually wanted to. Even though I felt distant from Candace, I was still able to relate to her, as her struggle of staking out a place in this world through working is one of many facing the harsh brutalities and requirements of surviving within capitalism requires.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Racism and Body horror
potatokao's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
my original expectation was simply “zombie novel,” that’s all i had really heard. because of that, i felt the book was slow paced as i was waiting for adventure to happen.
however, once i realized what the book was about, i wept. her identity, her relationships, her family. i didnt expect to cry but her relationship with her mother was everything to me and i want to know more. i want to hear candace’s active voice on who she is, who she is in relation to her mother
candace is a passive character stuck on routine but i want nothing more than her to actively participate. if not now, then when.
there were moments where i felt underwhelmed from how passive candace was but i understand this is who she is. i wish she’ll grow more from here, away from our gaze.
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Xenophobia
bluebrooks's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Abandonment, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief
Minor: Abortion, Vomit, and Alcohol
dreamdoughnut's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death
Minor: Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Confinement, and Medical content
kelleykamanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Alcohol and Suicide
Though this book was written before the pandemic, it is about a global pandemic. At times it is very eerily similar. Due to this, many people might find this triggering.takarakei's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Re-reading now in 2023 after going through a global pandemic, and quitting my shitty office job - I have a new perspective on life in general. It's rather eerie to read a book written before 2020 that got so many things right. I applaud Ling Ma who likely did a lot of research to make things so realistic. This book definitely reads more literary than sci-fi, although it is a dystopian setting (although I'd say about half the book is pre-pandemic reflecting that happens throughout the story). It is really a critique of our capitalist consumeristic society intertwined with the first generation immigrant millennial experience. I've read a few reviews where people say they don't like the main character Candice, but I would challenge people to question what it is they don't like about her. Because I would propose that perhaps the things they don't like about her (her stubbornness to continue going into work despite the absurd conditions) are perhaps things that they don't like about themselves. I truly don't think I would have gotten that perspective out of this book on my first read, so I am glad I re-read it.
**I recommend doing this one on audio or a combination of the audio + ebook/physical - because all the dialogue is written in that obnoxious way where there are no quotation marks. However, the narrator does a great job inflecting when people are talking, so that made it much easier to read.
To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Dementia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
this is a pandemic novel, so most of the content warnings come from living in that apocalyptic world.mondovertigo'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
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Alcohol and Xenophobia
f18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abortion, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
bencaroline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent, Racism, and Religious bigotry
Pandemic