Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

13 reviews

aunticles's review

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funny reflective sad 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

5.0

I loved this book. The structure is unusual: a collection of short stories rather than a novel, about the 2 friends and the twists and turns their lives take, together and apart, alternating their points of view. It's full of pain and regret, but also funny at times and easy to read. A fascinating,  wry and poignant view of relationships: romantic, sexual, family, friendships. 

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christine_s's review

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

4.0


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jaynovara's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-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

3.5


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raphynette's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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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devynhinds's review

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dark emotional tense slow-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

3.5


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toofondofbooks_'s review

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

3.5

"𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 - 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 - 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑. 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒆?"

This book of short stories chronicles the lives and friendship of Fiona and Jane, two Tawainese women who grew up together and are now trying to find themselves out in the world. They navigate their friendship, relationships, sexuality and family dynamics along the way.

I don't usually have a great relationship with books of short stories, but I liked this one. I think that the stories actually being related and tying into one another really helped. The first story, right off the bat, broke my heart, and I was both scared and excited to read the rest. The stories were all very engaging, but my favorite was "Cold Turkey," which occurs around the halfway mark. I also liked that the side characters who fleshed out the worlds of Fiona & Jane felt complete and real, for better and for worse.

The only reason why this didn't end up getting rated higher for me was - for it being a book about friendship, I didn't see a whole lot of....well, friendship. Fiona & Jane are supposed to be best friends, but in some stories, they don't interact at all or seldom mention each other. When they do. have scenes together, you can tell that there is love there, but it doesn't feel like they should even still be friends - the chemistry wasn't really there for me. However, overall, I did enjoy this read!

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tbose22's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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

2.0


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anintrovertrambles's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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joisaddler's review against another edition

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

4.0


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haleysversion's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5


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