Reviews tagging 'Death'

Stay True by Hua Hsu

59 reviews

bites_of_books's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Stay True is Hua Hsu's memoir centering his college years and his friendship with Ken, a fellow classmate. 

I had no previous knowledge of Hua Hsu but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of his memoir, it goes into a young Taiwanese American man's life as he navigates his journey through college. He strives to be alternative and fully outside of the mainstream, which was quite enjoyable for me. His passion for writing starts with putting together zines about his favorite subjects, mainly music. 

I really enjoyed learning about his participation in activism around campus and the history of activism during various times in history. I didn't enjoy the philosophy sections as much, but that's just a personal preference. 

Overall I'd recommend the audio since it also allowed me to hear the emotions in certain sections of the book, which made it even more powerful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Drug use, Kidnapping, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Murder

cheyison's review

reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Murder

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Dysphoria, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Alcohol, and Hate crime

Minor: Racial slurs, Bullying, Sexual content, and Antisemitism

troe's review

dark funny reflective sad

4.0

Very evocative memoir of a time/place (late 90s,Berkeley california) and life stage (undergrad) in the first half. Second half a reflection on friendship, grief, youth and growing older. Really moving and struck a chord re the experience of sudden, violent loss of a loved one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Grief

taylorpower's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

4.0

This book was so carefully and thoughtfully written, but I think the meandering style of the discussion and the level of introspection made it hard to connect with the author and his experience fully 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Murder

cgpine's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

thewellreadmrs's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Hate crime, Racism, Gun violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Death, Drug use, and Bullying

proustiansquid22's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child abuse

artemis7's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

readingpicnic's review

emotional funny sad medium-paced

4.0

I loved reading about the author’s angsty need to only like niche things as a teen and college student, and there were so many funny scenes like when he accidentally bought a poster of Björk that was way too big and got scared of it above his bed. The search for identity by both Ken and Hua felt so vulnerable and raw, as well as trying to find a form of activism that was sustainable for them. I found the conversations around representation from when it wasn’t as popularized (or mainstream?) by Hua, Ken, and Hua’s parents to be very interesting. The grief in this book was hard to read towards the end, but I think this is an important memoir and I’m glad it was written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder