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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
➳ 4.5 ★
Another favourite of mine this year. I’m not a big nonfiction reader, but this memoir had my emotions in a chokehold. Qian’s recount of her experience as an illegal immigrant in America and specifically, NYC, hits home almost right on the nail. I can imagine this is awfully similar to what my immigrant grandparents and their kids experienced coming to America from Taiwan. I grew up in Queens, I frequented Chinatown albeit ~5 years after this all happens and it’s hard to look at people the same. My heart breaks for Qian’s childhood self and every immigrant who has, will or continues to experience anything less than just because of their culture or background.
Another favourite of mine this year. I’m not a big nonfiction reader, but this memoir had my emotions in a chokehold. Qian’s recount of her experience as an illegal immigrant in America and specifically, NYC, hits home almost right on the nail. I can imagine this is awfully similar to what my immigrant grandparents and their kids experienced coming to America from Taiwan. I grew up in Queens, I frequented Chinatown albeit ~5 years after this all happens and it’s hard to look at people the same. My heart breaks for Qian’s childhood self and every immigrant who has, will or continues to experience anything less than just because of their culture or background.
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The author chose to tell her memoir from her perspective as a child, and that is really the downfall of the whole book. Because she was a child and had limited knowledge and understanding of what was going on, the reader also is left very confused and with what seem to be holes in the story. For example, the various jobs that her mother held and it's never explained what her father even does for a living. Secondly, characters drop in and out of the story with no warning and no background info to flesh them out. When her mother has to go to the hospital, Qian is sent to stay with various friends of her mother, whom she has apparently never met before.
The memoir could have been a fascinating story, explaining how she overcame her early struggles as an illegal immigrant and went on to become a successful lawyer, but that is glossed over in the last 5% of the book. The other 95% is about being hungry, her parents' crumbling marriage, the weirdos and perverts she encountered in the subway, and being afraid of police.
I think the story would have been much more powerful if it had included the background info that her parents would have known, rather than just her childish perspective.
The memoir could have been a fascinating story, explaining how she overcame her early struggles as an illegal immigrant and went on to become a successful lawyer, but that is glossed over in the last 5% of the book. The other 95% is about being hungry, her parents' crumbling marriage, the weirdos and perverts she encountered in the subway, and being afraid of police.
I think the story would have been much more powerful if it had included the background info that her parents would have known, rather than just her childish perspective.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced