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clemencepct's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Torture
sarah_kula's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
- 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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Racism, Sexual violence, War, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Murder, and Violence
caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Cursing, Vomit, War, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Bullying, Alcohol, Homophobia, Abandonment, Ableism, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence
abbie_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Was not expecting this to get as dark as it did - Zhang pushes lots of boundaries! I really liked the way the stories all subtly referenced each other, focused on a community of Chinese immigrants mostly struggling to make ends meet. Lost some steam in the middle but I liked the circular start and end stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement and Torture
rachelkays's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Pointless. Literally pointless. Pointless and plotless.
It started off okay- the annoying, potty humored voice of the first story was forgivable, seeing as it was written from a young child’s perspective. It hits a low point in the next story where theres a long, drawn out scene of sexual assault between children that was so incredibly graphic and weird. That story ends abruptly and I was continuing in to see what the point of it was, and it never came. That extended child rape scene was essentially pointless, and not connected to any overarching point or lesson of the book. Apparently thats supposed to be a “compelling” coming of age story.
I continued reading. All the voices in these essays sounded very much the same. Innocent child with an overbearing mother, underachieving father, brother with an up and down relationship, precocious friends who try to teach girl about sex at like 6 years old. Sometimes I didn’t even realize the essays switched until someone said the protagonist’s name and I realize it had changed like 15 pages in.
The plot of each story was literally just like little girl experiences ordinary day, basically. It would be like girl goes to school and interacts with friends then goes home, all interlaced with this really grating potty humor that just like did not work for me at all. I don’t know any 9 year olds who talk about sex in such a like, I can’t think of another word but potty humored way. Friends inspect each other genitals like at least twice in each essay. Its viewed as completely normal and almost funny.
The writing itself was not for me. Disjointed, with shifting points of times without any indication so it’d be like 1996 in one sentence and the next sentence is supposed to be 1921 with a completely different speaker but theres no italics or quotes or any change indicating a shift in time and voice. Inconsequential, boring moments were focused on for pages and I was always waiting for them to come to some sort of meaningful conclusion but it wouldn’t come and instead there’d be a shift to another boring pointless inconsequential moment in a 7 year old’s daily life.
There was so much potential here- the lives of young Asian immigrant girls and their coming of ages in a multicultural, poverty stricken neighborhood as their families move towards upwards mobility. Talk about race, talk about class, talk about language, talk about class struggle, talk about anything that actually means something, please. There’d be mentions of this stuff but nothing was ever actually talked about, analyzed, or said. There was no reflection in any of these stories, and no satisfaction of conclusion. To me, this was almost 300 pages of uncomfortable descriptions of elementary schoolers genitals, reoccurring poop themed jokes, and ultimately a whole lot of nothing. Between that, the unnecessarily graphic and pointless sexual assault scenes, and several racist jokes made at the expense of black and brown people, this was a waste of time for me.
It started off okay- the annoying, potty humored voice of the first story was forgivable, seeing as it was written from a young child’s perspective. It hits a low point in the next story where theres a long, drawn out scene of sexual assault between children that was so incredibly graphic and weird. That story ends abruptly and I was continuing in to see what the point of it was, and it never came. That extended child rape scene was essentially pointless, and not connected to any overarching point or lesson of the book. Apparently thats supposed to be a “compelling” coming of age story.
I continued reading. All the voices in these essays sounded very much the same. Innocent child with an overbearing mother, underachieving father, brother with an up and down relationship, precocious friends who try to teach girl about sex at like 6 years old. Sometimes I didn’t even realize the essays switched until someone said the protagonist’s name and I realize it had changed like 15 pages in.
The plot of each story was literally just like little girl experiences ordinary day, basically. It would be like girl goes to school and interacts with friends then goes home, all interlaced with this really grating potty humor that just like did not work for me at all. I don’t know any 9 year olds who talk about sex in such a like, I can’t think of another word but potty humored way. Friends inspect each other genitals like at least twice in each essay. Its viewed as completely normal and almost funny.
The writing itself was not for me. Disjointed, with shifting points of times without any indication so it’d be like 1996 in one sentence and the next sentence is supposed to be 1921 with a completely different speaker but theres no italics or quotes or any change indicating a shift in time and voice. Inconsequential, boring moments were focused on for pages and I was always waiting for them to come to some sort of meaningful conclusion but it wouldn’t come and instead there’d be a shift to another boring pointless inconsequential moment in a 7 year old’s daily life.
There was so much potential here- the lives of young Asian immigrant girls and their coming of ages in a multicultural, poverty stricken neighborhood as their families move towards upwards mobility. Talk about race, talk about class, talk about language, talk about class struggle, talk about anything that actually means something, please. There’d be mentions of this stuff but nothing was ever actually talked about, analyzed, or said. There was no reflection in any of these stories, and no satisfaction of conclusion. To me, this was almost 300 pages of uncomfortable descriptions of elementary schoolers genitals, reoccurring poop themed jokes, and ultimately a whole lot of nothing. Between that, the unnecessarily graphic and pointless sexual assault scenes, and several racist jokes made at the expense of black and brown people, this was a waste of time for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racism, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Body horror, Violence, and Rape
ayesha1816's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I thought that the characters and the stories blended together... it was almost as if this would've been better as a novel. Which is a weird thing to say about a short story collection.
Very strong trigger warnings for a LOT of stuff throughout/
Very strong trigger warnings for a LOT of stuff throughout/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Gaslighting, Gore, Emotional abuse, Blood, War, and Torture
Minor: Domestic abuse and Suicide
This book is very violent and graphic, just a warning.pang's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Torture
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Excrement and Vomit
edgwareviabank's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The front cover of my copy of "Sour Heart" has a quote from the New Yorker printed in the middle, describing the book as "obscene, beautiful and moving". You'd be perfectly fine judging this book by its cover: it's all three of those things.
The weight of love and family ties dominates these stories of disoriented children and parents, struggling with past trauma from the Chinese Cultural Revolution and facing uncertain futures in the US. I have a soft spot for fiction that explores immigrants' fragmented identities, and this book delivers beautifully in that sense.
The author sets her characters in the same time and place by having their families share a room at the start of their lives in New York. This detail gets the most space in the first story and brief mentions in the others, and while the stories wouldn't be any less powerful without it, I didn't mind it, as I enjoy the thrill of finding the connection between different pieces in a short story collection.
There is a strong sense throughout the book that the children narrating the stories are growing up too fast, striving to keep up with their peers (who have been steeped in American culture for longer but are far from role models), or keeping their needs and feelings in checks as their parents navigate precarious living situations and emotional breakdowns. This leads to the "obscene" side to "Sour Heart", and while the book's dark humour wouldn't be as effective without the kids' consistently foul language, two of the stories have peer pressure escalate into a level of violence some readers may be less comfortable with.
My favourite stories: "We Love You Crispina", "Our Mothers Before Them", "The Evolution Of My Brother".
The weight of love and family ties dominates these stories of disoriented children and parents, struggling with past trauma from the Chinese Cultural Revolution and facing uncertain futures in the US. I have a soft spot for fiction that explores immigrants' fragmented identities, and this book delivers beautifully in that sense.
The author sets her characters in the same time and place by having their families share a room at the start of their lives in New York. This detail gets the most space in the first story and brief mentions in the others, and while the stories wouldn't be any less powerful without it, I didn't mind it, as I enjoy the thrill of finding the connection between different pieces in a short story collection.
There is a strong sense throughout the book that the children narrating the stories are growing up too fast, striving to keep up with their peers (who have been steeped in American culture for longer but are far from role models), or keeping their needs and feelings in checks as their parents navigate precarious living situations and emotional breakdowns. This leads to the "obscene" side to "Sour Heart", and while the book's dark humour wouldn't be as effective without the kids' consistently foul language, two of the stories have peer pressure escalate into a level of violence some readers may be less comfortable with.
My favourite stories: "We Love You Crispina", "Our Mothers Before Them", "The Evolution Of My Brother".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual violence, and Torture
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