Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

19 reviews

kathis_wonderland's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui shows her life. Born in Vietnam, Thi and her family had to flee the war there. Reflecting on her family's decisions and taking a look at her parents’ lives, Thi is searching for her family’s history and her heritage.
 
This is my first graphic novel. It is quite a different reading experience than reading a book without illustrations, but I enjoyed it. I learnt a lot about Vietnam's history, which was really interesting. The mixture of personal story and history was awesome. I keep thinking about using this memoir in my history classes at some point in the future. It just gives a different point of view on the events than there is in the history books. The memoir also illustrates perfectly how your parents' trauma can affect your own life. I discovered that there is a teacher's guide, discussion questions and a pronunciation guide available on Thi Bui's website. Reading through some of the questions helped me to understand the book more and reflect on the story.
 
I find it difficult to write a review about a memoir that tells a personal story about someone's life. However, I really liked this book and learnt a lot while reading it. It educates the reader about historic events and at the same time, shows multi-generational struggles. To be honest, this book is quite a masterpiece that can be used in education. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Grief, Racism, Violence, and War

moonytoast's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

 This has been on my TBR for years at this point and I’m so glad I was finally able to read it. I have a soft spot for graphic novel memoirs and this is probably one of my favorites that I’ve read outside of the college class on Visual and Graphic Narrative I took freshman year. There’s just something about using that medium to dissect one’s own family dynamics and how their parents’ life experiences can create generational trauma that impact their relationship…. Plus the writing style was really beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Miscarriage, and Child death

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Xenophobia and Racism

brookey8888's review

challenging dark informative inspiring sad medium-paced

3.0

I did enjoy this and learn things, but I just felt like the story telling was a little confusing at first. It also didn’t get into the history till later, which is fine because this is her family history, but it talks about motherhood and I don’t really care about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Grief, Violence, Colonisation, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, War, Child death, Racism, Sexism, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

nikitagupta98's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Miscarriage, and Child death

bussmanbooks3000's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

nadia's review

emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

I loved the idea behind this graphic memoir. The artwork was great and the whole thing conveyed a lot of emotion. I also appreciated learning about another perspective of the Vietnam War, including the implications and after-effects of fleeing a war-torn home. One to read if you're interested in those topics, or themes of motherhood, family, identity, sacrifice, and belonging.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Racism

f18's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Vomit

ehmannky's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

A beautiful memoir, both in terms of the art and the story. Bui brings the effects of colonialism on the individual to the front and center, and how those who are simply trying to live their lives are the ones who suffer the most from imperial dreams. In the chapter "The Chessboard," she even mentions that in the grand scheme of the global chess for her country, her family didn't even factor in at all, even though their trauma was the result of the game. This trauma just manifests in every interaction of her family's lives, from the complicated way that her family relates (or struggles to relate) to one another, to her birth experience. Bui doesn't take a stance on the war itself, instead framing it as an all-around traumatic and tragic event, one sparked by centuries of foreign rule and colonialism. It's a lovely and intimate story and I couldn't put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Xenophobia

moss's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

Minor: Rape