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jacq_s's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Gore
caleykapowski's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, and Violence
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Brimming with imagery and symbolism, vulgarity and rawness, Bestiary by K-Ming Chang is a familiar story of alienation, resilience and survival told in (while being made unfamiliar by) bizarre prose saturated with magical realism. There are layers upon layers in this story, made complex by two main factors.
The first of which is that there is no traditional plot structure as the story unravels without linearity. It jumps from one point of view to another, switching between Daughter, Mother and Grandmother without much care for order. But, despite this, it is clear that Bestiary is a story of identity, though there’s a notable lack of names.
The other is the significance of vulgarity in this book. Now, I’m not someone who shies away from vulgarity in literature, but there is just way too much of it here. The first half of the book is especially bursting with mentions of body parts and bodily functions. A small part of me hesitantly believes that the closeness of filth and the Asian characters here are meant to be ironic because Asians have been stereotyped as dirty. But, a greater part of me is unsure of their significance within the story and outside of it—the potential contexts elude me despite the familiarity.
Everything considered, this book was difficult for me to read and took a lot out of me while I attempted to understand it. It is powerful, yes, and the parts I did understand broke my heart. Even so, I remain undecided if Bestiary is brilliantly creative or has a tad too much surrealism.
Nevertheless, I recommend this book for anyone who loves Asian literature and magical realism, and who has the brain power to process its rich imagery and symbolism. If you get squeamish easily but really want to read this book, be prepared to take lots of breaks in between pages.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Dysphoria, and Excrement
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Minor: Racism and Suicide attempt
leah_alexandra's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Excrement, Xenophobia, Death, Violence, Vomit, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, and Domestic abuse
abithereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Blood, and Excrement
mandkips's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Excrement
Moderate: Gore and Domestic abuse
stevie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, War, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Misogyny
julianship's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
I personally had a hard time getting past some of the grosser body stuff in the book, but ymmv. There are parts where I was like "oh my God I love this" and then we'd get to another bit of body horror or shit, and I'd have to disengage again.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Physical abuse
juliej0715's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
The beginning really hooks you in. Then the writing style takes some getting used to. Probably the middle 30-45% was kinda tough to follow, because you can't tell if what she is describing is actually happening or not? But then you get in a groove with the style and you understand what's happening. Once you get into the main plot, it's so consuming. The stories really feed your imagination with bold imagery and it becomes really poetic and beautiful.
Not to be too punny with the front cover, but this book is w i l d. It was crazy and fun and enjoyable and you can't put it down. It's different and I would recommend it!
And the day after I finished it, I was thinking about it so much that I read the ending again. I considered reading the whole thing again to see if there were things I missed, but the library book was due.
The story is pretty complicated to explain to anyone, so I convinced a friend to read it so I can actually discuss it with someone!
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Gore, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, and Suicide attempt
meganzc's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit