Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Stay True

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Stay True by Hua Hsu

40 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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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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misssleepy's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I did get this recommendation from book tok. It is also a Pulitzer Prize winner.

This book was interesting. It was relatable in the way that the author reflected on his first few years of college. I think that is a time where most of us try to find ourselves and we form new friendships with people. Even though the author and his friend Ken had their differences, their friendship was a product of the expropriation of finding oneself in the world.

This book was heartbreaking. Just as the author struggles to cope with the nonsensical acts of violence that took his friends life, I found myself as the reader struggling to cope. Fucked up things just happen. I think that’s one of the most difficult things in life to come to terms with, and the author was very transparent about that.

The latter part of the book was definitely the most engrossing. Hearing how he coped with the trauma, how he struggled with his feelings and even questioned his own role in Ken’s life. I think putting the story to paper was very powerful. His message to stay true was a simple and powerful one.

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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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sajetheherb's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

I listened to the audiobook version and found myself resonating with this memoir, which blended Hua’s account of the Asian-American experience, the feeling of aimlessness as a young adult, and the grief that comes with loss of a loved one.

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