Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

15 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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robinks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-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

4.5

I really enjoyed reading through these little blips of Fiona & Jane’s lives, the ebbs and flows of their friendship over many years. I didn’t like that some of the stories seemed to be out of chronological order. Also, I sometimes could not understand Jane’s actions.
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jaynovara's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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readinglitwithbritt's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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
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ahskme's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • 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

4.25

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vaniavela's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • 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

3.25

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devynhinds's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • 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

3.5

"π’˜π’† π’˜π’†π’“π’† 𝒔𝒐 π’Šπ’π’π’π’„π’†π’π’• - π’Šπ’•π’” π’π’˜π’ π’Œπ’Šπ’π’… 𝒐𝒇 π’‘π’π’˜π’†π’“ - 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 π’šπ’π’– π’ˆπ’π’• 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 π’•π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆπ’”, 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 π’Šπ’• π’ˆπ’“π’π’˜π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒖𝒑. π’˜π’† π’•π’‰π’π’–π’ˆπ’‰π’• π’˜π’† π’Œπ’π’†π’˜ π’Šπ’• 𝒂𝒍𝒍, π’…π’Šπ’…π’'𝒕 π’˜π’†?"

This book of short stories chronicles the lives and friendship of Fiona and Jane, two Tawainese women who grew up together and are now trying to find themselves out in the world. They navigate their friendship, relationships, sexuality and family dynamics along the way.

I don't usually have a great relationship with books of short stories, but I liked this one. I think that the stories actually being related and tying into one another really helped. The first story, right off the bat, broke my heart, and I was both scared and excited to read the rest. The stories were all very engaging, but my favorite was "Cold Turkey," which occurs around the halfway mark. I also liked that the side characters who fleshed out the worlds of Fiona & Jane felt complete and real, for better and for worse.

The only reason why this didn't end up getting rated higher for me was - for it being a book about friendship, I didn't see a whole lot of....well, friendship. Fiona & Jane are supposed to be best friends, but in some stories, they don't interact at all or seldom mention each other. When they do. have scenes together, you can tell that there is love there, but it doesn't feel like they should even still be friends - the chemistry wasn't really there for me. However, overall, I did enjoy this read!
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sydneybedell's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

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krys_kilz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved reading a book dedicated to platonic love and friendship. As one reviewer put it, it felt "subtly subversive" within a dominant culture steeped in romantic love. The ebbs and flows of Fiona and Jane's friendship as they moved apart, grew increasingly distant and changed resonated deeply with my own experiences with long-term friendships. The unspeakable grief of losing the closeness and proximity you had as children and teenagers and the unbearable loneliness of being left behind. The raw emotion captured between these pages broke my heart and healed it simultaneously.

I also thought the story lines unpacking Jane and Fiona's relationships with their parents were really strong. Fiona as her mother's "own heart, walking outside her body" and Jane trying to save Julian in an attempt to save her father - the complexity and messiness were translated beautifully.

My favorite stories in the collection were: Cold Turkey, Clairvoyance, and the title story Fiona and Jane.
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