Scan barcode
booksandteatime's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Racism, Death of parent, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Child death, Xenophobia, and Vomit
ominousspectre's review against another edition
4.0
It is cool to see a trans masc serve cunt amongst the sadness, but there is so much sad nonetheless
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
Minor: Dysphoria and Deadnaming
mighty_lizard_queen's review
- 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
3.0
The book is very good for the first part, but once the father is buried I think it lost its way a little bit. I guess the father was supposed to be redeemed but I didn't buy it. The ending was also unsatisfying and felt disconnected to the earlier parts of the book.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Deadnaming, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Animal death, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence
natalee_martino's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Racism, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Colonisation, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, and Rape
scifi_rat's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, Racial slurs, Bullying, Abandonment, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content and Transphobia
tfortilney's review against another edition
The concept of How Much of These Hills Is Gold is fascinating. Two Chinese-American siblings, one of them what you’d probably call gender-queer today, fending for themselves in the American West in the gold rush era — There is so much potential here, and I’m sure a lot of people will love this novel.
It is, however, not a novel for me, and I after reading more than 1/3 I felt it would be fairer to the book to dnf it rather than finishing it knowing I’d not give it a great rating, no matter how the next 2/3 went. I also want to “allow” myself to dnf books more often because forcing myself to finish books I don’t enjoy only makes me less enthusiastic about reading.
There’s two main things I struggled with with this novel, neither something I would ever call bad writing, just things I didn’t vibe with. One is Zhang’s poetic, sometimes abstract style which is just not my jam. (By the way, why is the century obscured when years are given (XX42), when, from the way the setting is described, it has to be the 1800s?)
The other is the immense amount of various kinds of violence the protagonists, particularly Lucy, experience. I understand that they are realistic for the setting, but I found reading such a bleak story very draining and had to force myself to pick the book up again.
To illustrate this, here’s a non-exhaustive list of violent events from the novel:
Physical and psychological child abuse Racism, including racial slurs Violence against animals, including a man purposefully breaking a three-legged dog’s last functioning hind-leg. A grown man hitting on a 12-year-old girl Two kids carrying around their father’s corpse for two months, with detailed description of said corpse’s decay
Nope. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do that.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Animal cruelty
booksinacottage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Racism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Child death, and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Violence
ash_ton'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
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Addiction, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Bullying, Animal death, Child death, Vomit, and Animal cruelty
kananineko'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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Misogyny, Dysphoria, Grief, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, and Outing