Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

21 reviews

vanadiumbean's review

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funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • 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

3.5


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zombiezami's review against another edition

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4.25

I loved this book! The voice of the protagonist Jo was truly endearing, and I loved the twists and turns of the narrative. Also, it's rare to see books about Asian Americans' presence in the South. 

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taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced
  • 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? No

3.5


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rebthack's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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kayladaila's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Downstairs Girl tells the story of Jo Kuan, a Chinese American woman struggling to find her place in post-Civil War Georgia. Jo is employed as a servant for a wealthy family while she lives illegally in the basement of a struggling newspaper owner’s house. She decides to write an advice column to help her upstairs neighbor boost newspaper sales and give herself an outlet. 

Stacey Lee seamlessly touches on so many themes over the course of The Downstairs Girl. My favorite was Lee’s handling of intersectional feminism. From Jo’s column to her involvement with the Women’s Rights movement, there is so much to unpack, and sadly, most of it still needs to be unpacked today. 

The Downstairs Girl reminded me of Last Night at the Telegraph Club. It didn’t help that Emily Woo Zeller read the audiobook for both. However, they are both about young Chinese American women dealing with inter-generational conflict and discrimination. I think these books are worth looking at next to each other. 

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bookswithmybulldog's review

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reflective slow-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

2.5


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jashanac's review

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challenging hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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wear_sun_screen's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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kierscrivener's review

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.25

 This is novel about a Chinese girl in 1890s Atlanta who spends her days as a lady's maid and her night's writing an advice column and creating change.

I really loved how this captured era, this was a time of extreme change around the world as women were lobbying for their rights and the world was being thrust into the modern era. I thought the conversation around race and feminism was amazing. Especially the Asian community is erased from many narratives especially historical.

My biggest complaint was that I thought that the supporting characters could use a lot of development and that the climax/end was too easily wrapped up. I would have liked it to be longer and maybe less easy. But that is me falling more on the realism than hopeful side of the spectrum.

Overall, a beautifully written and well developed world without a perfect execution.

If you are looking for diverse historical fiction I would recommend! 

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tesshersh's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

a little predictable but all in all a fun read :)

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