Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon

4 reviews

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

readingpicnic's review against another edition

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Algonquin Books for a free digital ARC (or I guess a late reader copy since I requested this and was approved after it was already published) in exchange for an honest review. The recipes were tied into the story so well before they were reintroduced in recipe format, and it was such a wonderful enmeshing of genres that felt so natural. The ways that the recipes were altered in creative ways, such as with instructions to noisily prepare food to make the eater feel unwelcome eating it–so creative. The food descriptions were incredible and so meticulous, and you can tell the author’s passion for the food knowledge that she wrote this to preserve, keeping both her mother and culture’s recipes alive. The mission of this book and the execution were fairly flawless in my opinion, and even though readers should check the trigger warnings due to the traumas of the Cambodian genocide and living in communist North Vietnam with extremely rationed food, living in extreme poverty, as well as losing so many family members to illness, it is still definitely worth the read. The family dynamics were very interesting to read about, especially in the ways some of her siblings just stopped interacting with them after moving away from Cambodia and the normalcy of that (could just be my western perspective). I am truly not very educated on Cambodia’s history, so even though I learned some of that history from this book, this really emphasized for me how much more I have to learn (I think I’ll read Ma and Me by Putsata Reang soon). I think that ending the book with an epilogue from her daughter was a great way to round out the story and really emphasized the generations of women that are so prevalent in this story. The relationships between Chantha and her mom, her sister (who also took on a mothering role), and then between her and her daughter were the true through line of this book, and it just all came together so nicely and in such a lovely way. Anyways, 5 stars, and I’m glad I took my time reading this slowly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

nad_books623's review

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

5.0

This was a beautiful and incredibly sad story. The book was raw and as an American it was good reading her story while, living during the Vietnam war. 

This was the first time I've read a book that focused on food which, I believe made the book 5 stars. The way everything was connected was beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

I listened to the audiobook and it's nice the author's daughter is the narrator. I really enjoyed the flow of the storytelling. The recipes were a nice inclusion. I don't cook well, but listening to the process just highlighted the book somehow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Trafficking and Medical trauma

Minor: Suicidal thoughts