Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

21 reviews

thejazziestbean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

this book was very informative and it gave a huge insight into how an immigrant child’s life is affected by the government of their nations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racism, Police brutality, War, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Hate crime, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Colonisation, Gore, Vomit, Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Abortion, Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, Child death, and Classism

rieviolet's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

I'll preface this review by saying that it's only recently that I've started reading graphic novels, so I'm still getting used to this particular mode of narration. The book deals with very heavy and interesting themes (the impact of war on a national and personal level, displacement, intergenerational trauma etc.) but I feel like the brevity inherent to the graphic novel mode did them a disservice and there wasn't enough narrative space to develop them. I also admit that I know just the bare minimum about the war in Vietnam and its aftermath, and that a deeper knowledge on my part would have helped me to follow better and to integrate the author's storytelling.

I have to be honest and say that I wasn't really into the graphic and colouring style, and it took me some time to get used to it. I found it perfectly funtional when it came to telling the story, but I wasn't blown away. 

This graphic novel is still a solid work, it just didn't fully meet the high  

expectations I had built for myself after hearing all the reviews of praise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Medical content, War, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Grief, Racism, and Death

Minor: Mental illness, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

paigehf's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

Moderate: Death, Child death, Child abuse, and War

Minor: Racism

lprongs's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death, Miscarriage, and War

Minor: Xenophobia, Vomit, Racial slurs, and Racism

kirkspockreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, War, Violence, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Racism, and Pregnancy

lasafica_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Classism, and Racism

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Death, and War

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, and Miscarriage

Minor: Xenophobia and Racism

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

I'm in the minority for not loving this! It didn't work for me, something about the jumping through time and character meant I never sank into the narrative of their lives fully before we were ripped away. Maybe that's the impression the author wanted to leave the reader with, I'm not sure. I'll seek out other books on this period of history! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, War, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Murder

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.5

A moving reflection on family and the relationships between parents and children and people and time/place. Thi Bui addresses heavy topics with sensitivity and compassion for subjects. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, War, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, and Domestic abuse

booksandboba's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, War, Pregnancy, Death, Genocide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol