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kaz14's review against another edition
3.0
Short listed for the Stella Prize 2021. The focus of this book is Malaysian born Yannie and her lifelong need/ambition to revenge the bullying she received from, and the parental favoritism given to, her older brother Shan. Located in both Asia and Australia, Revenge explores a number of subjects including familial, friend and romantic relationships, and the different expectations placed on male and female children within Malayan culture, or at least within this family. Because this short book covers a long period of Yannie's life I felt there was a lack of depth in places, in particular a skimming of the years between childhood and adult hood. Nevertheless an interesting and enjoyable read, although for me it is not quite of the caliber needed to win the Stella.
celiaisreading's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this so much more than I expected! I think it has a lot to do with the audiobook narrator, she was fantastic and made me like the main character and care for her story a lot more.
Can't explain why but I loved how she pronounced Yannie :)
Can't explain why but I loved how she pronounced Yannie :)
meganori's review against another edition
4.0
A very powerful novel. Would have been five stars but it took a while to get into. That might have just been my head space at the time though, so I'd like to read it again.
rachelbabbage's review against another edition
1.0
You know how books are often either plot driven or character driven? Well somehow this book manages to be neither.
The underwhelming plot would be redeemed if the reader was emotionally attached/invested in the characters, but that was not the case. All the characters were either boring or unlikeable so I wasn't at all disappointed when they met unhappy endings.
The book showed some promise during the prologue (which was 30% of the book?) but there was little-no plot during the main section of the book and the epilogue was confusing.
Overall an underwhelming read. I only finished it because it was short - seriously considered DNF-ing during the main chapters but continued at the promise of only 60 pages remaining.
The underwhelming plot would be redeemed if the reader was emotionally attached/invested in the characters, but that was not the case. All the characters were either boring or unlikeable so I wasn't at all disappointed when they met unhappy endings.
The book showed some promise during the prologue (which was 30% of the book?) but there was little-no plot during the main section of the book and the epilogue was confusing.
Overall an underwhelming read. I only finished it because it was short - seriously considered DNF-ing during the main chapters but continued at the promise of only 60 pages remaining.