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mshusky's review
dark
emotional
sad
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
2.5
I got this book as it was touted to be a Canadian literary work, an award winning novel. I had read the Jade Peony (also set in Vancouver) and was hoping for something similar.
This was the audio book, so maybe I needed to read the printed work as the narrator did not differentiate between the characters and I ended up having to jot down some of who the characters were as the story seemed to cover 5 generations of a Chinese family, and as it jumped randomly between the generations it was incredibly difficult to work out where in the story you were.
It was inconsistantly written, sometimes it was the literary work I was expecting, and then it was like reading a bizarre contemporary page turner. As for the incest plotline - what was the point of that?
This was the audio book, so maybe I needed to read the printed work as the narrator did not differentiate between the characters and I ended up having to jot down some of who the characters were as the story seemed to cover 5 generations of a Chinese family, and as it jumped randomly between the generations it was incredibly difficult to work out where in the story you were.
It was inconsistantly written, sometimes it was the literary work I was expecting, and then it was like reading a bizarre contemporary page turner. As for the incest plotline - what was the point of that?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment