Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

36 reviews

gvstyris's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

For the first time in his life, he is unremarkable, and this feels like power. 

Our Missing Hearts is quite a different read to Ng's first two novels, both of which I loved as a middle schooler for their slow pacing and rich character studies. Alternatively, Ng presents us here with a dystopian United States defined by anti-Asian legislation and discrimination -- which is to say, not particularly dystopian at all. 

I struggled quite a bit for the first third of this book. Bird's perspective, although echoing a child's limited emotional intelligence, is a bit of a slog to read at times. I found Margaret's story much more compelling, but would ultimately argue that she suffers from a similar lack of development.

This novel is largely redeemed by its social commentary, which I'm excited to hear about from Ng herself at the Auckland Writers Festival in a few weeks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Child abuse and Animal cruelty

jennipea382's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Violence, Death, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

jaysaysnope's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this is so well-written, but i am just losing my patience with creators trying to convince us that nonviolent protest will topple violent empires. also, super weird to me that IRL, the laws and public rhetoric about indoctrinating children with harmful ideas have most recently (and aggressively) been aimed at trans people, but there’s not a single mention of queerness in this book, let alone trans identity. understanding the intersections of oppression is more important now than ever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Pandemic/Epidemic

ksilvio's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death of parent, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Gun violence and Police brutality

luvs2paint1928's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

tiffanyduong's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Murder, Hate crime, Racism, Animal death, and Police brutality

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Violence

kstolley01's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

tkeeley's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Racism

rinakei's review

There was a moment that was a little bit too triggering for me as an Asian-American, and I haven't been able to get back into a comfortable mindset to read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

There is a description of an (content warning: assault, racism, animal abuse/death)

Asian woman assaulted by a man on the sidewalk, who then subsequently steps on her dog, likely killing it.

I needed to stop reading the book shortly after this event occurs in the story.