Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
reflective
medium-paced
This is a raw, at times hard to read memoir. I appreciate the honesty that the author uses throughout the book. It will break your heart at parts but I didn't want to put it down. I would love to read more from Qian Julie Wang. If you like vulnerable, candid memoirs, give this one a shot.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Classism, Deportation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent
emotional
inspiring
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
A sad story that is told in a way where you can really picture young Qian as a girl in these situations. The audiobook really added to it as it was read by the author and also the Chinese passages were read out loud. As someone who is Chinese Canadian, it hit too close to home at times. Similar feeling to what I feel for the movie turning red! I do also feel weird rating memoirs though because it’s truly the person’s life and experience so how can you really rate that? I will say that the writing and storytelling doesn’t sparkle as much as some of the other memoirs I’ve read thus far, which is why this isn’t rated higher. I would be interested in reading a follow up about Qian/Julie’s life in adulthood and as a teenager though.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
slow-paced
this book was a vulnerable and honest look into her life as an undocumented child in new york. the trials and tribulations and trauma of what that means and how to survive. at times, i felt so heartbroken and sad that this was her reality - and so many people’s realities today - and wanted better for her and her family. i’m glad we got to see a glimpse of that at the end.
this definitely reads like a debut and while the story of her childhood was interesting & important to read, the story felt unbalanced since we didn’t get to see anything past their life once they moved to canada. i don’t want to minimize her experience and childhood, but most of the book was repetitive and told the same story with different actions, which goes back to the repetitive, unbalanced feel to the book.
a great memoir to read and happy to get the feeling from the acknowledgements section that her life turned out beyond her wildest dreams. but i feel like to get the full impact of her story, it would’ve been nice to read about how her childhood dreams mentioned in the story came true. or to see a resolution to the wrist issue that was mentioned several times. it shows a reality of the “american dream”: that people come here for a better life, and this country offers next to no support & causes people to be fearful & looking over their shoulders, working difficult jobs with terrible pay, etc. it takes a lot for that dream to come true and i’m glad it seems qian’s comes true.
but a good, impactful, quick memoir to read.
this definitely reads like a debut and while the story of her childhood was interesting & important to read, the story felt unbalanced since we didn’t get to see anything past their life once they moved to canada. i don’t want to minimize her experience and childhood, but most of the book was repetitive and told the same story with different actions, which goes back to the repetitive, unbalanced feel to the book.
a great memoir to read and happy to get the feeling from the acknowledgements section that her life turned out beyond her wildest dreams. but i feel like to get the full impact of her story, it would’ve been nice to read about how her childhood dreams mentioned in the story came true. or to see a resolution to the wrist issue that was mentioned several times. it shows a reality of the “american dream”: that people come here for a better life, and this country offers next to no support & causes people to be fearful & looking over their shoulders, working difficult jobs with terrible pay, etc. it takes a lot for that dream to come true and i’m glad it seems qian’s comes true.
but a good, impactful, quick memoir to read.