Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Braised Pork by An Yu

5 reviews

fairygodfish's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

She was wrong, you see, the world of water couldn’t take all of her. Things don’t work in such absolute ways. But she never understood this. Parts of her, like seeds, have been planted on this earth and grown into shoots, flowers, trees, day by day. The roots have dug deep into the soil and will continue to extend, for as long as you and I can imagine.

This book is special. I picked it up expecting it to be a horror novel, because of the cover, but I couldn’t put it down. I saw myself in Jia Jia, I think. I will be re reading.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Mental illness

Minor: Cancer, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

hannahleila's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Infertility, and Suicide

Moderate: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity

emory's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Cancer

lipstickitotheman's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Braised Pork is a novel written in English by a Chinese author that is set in contemporary China. The plot is kicked off with the main character finding her husband drowned in their bathroom next to a picture that he drew of a fish man. Obviously the main character, Jia Jia, becomes obsessed with the fish man and has spiritual experiences about/with him. She journeys through China and Tibet to discover more about the fish man and his connection to her and to her husband’s death. There are emotional and situational resolutions for Jia Jia and other characters that bring them a lot of peace, but the narrative resolutions for the reader are secondary, I suppose—not absent because I didn’t find the ending lacking in anything at all. The narrative is resolved in a way that still leaves the reader with questions, which is something I really enjoyed about the book. In the grand tradition of magical realism, sometimes things just happen: Sometimes there’s a water dimension connected to our own that both takes from and gives to the people who encounter it. 

 

While reading the book, I enjoyed and respected the writing style and narrative techniques overall, but I was occasionally bored and ready for the plot to move on. However, in the weeks since I finished it, I’ve thought about this book pretty regularly. The atmosphere and “locations” Yu created have sort of woven their way into my brain and come to the surface a lot. I don’t know why! It may be the way she explores grief, reality, food, intergenerational experiences, complex partner relationships, and, of course, water.

(I wrote this for a job application, but may as well preserve my thoughts here too)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Grief, and Death

Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Infertility, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

hallsifer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 I'm not sure I understand every part of this book, but I'm also not sure I'm meant too. It's so wonderfully surreal and dreamy, with a very strange disconnected vibe that genuinely made me want to keep reading. I might revisit it to find things I missed on the first read through! I would definitely reccomend to people that enjoy Murakami novels, it's got the same otherwordly feeling in parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Minor: Cancer