Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

28 reviews

balladofreadingqueer's review

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, it read almost like a collection of short stories, one from Fiona’s perspective and one from Jane’s perspective at various times in their lives. It starts with two Taiwanese-American girls as school-age best friends, then their lives in college and the years post-college where they grow apart and then a coming back together when Fiona moves back to LA.

It explores important themes of friendships, coming out, acceptance, belonging and family. I enjoyed Jane’s storyline and her queer life interested me more than Fiona’s heterosexual life.
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burnt_milk's review against another edition

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funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoy literary fiction but find it kinda difficult to talk about. Some parts of this really hit, but as is often the case with these kind of stories I wish subjects were given more depth. 
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leanne_miron's review against another edition

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reflective slow-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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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

"π’˜π’† π’˜π’†π’“π’† 𝒔𝒐 π’Šπ’π’π’π’„π’†π’π’• - π’Šπ’•π’” π’π’˜π’ π’Œπ’Šπ’π’… 𝒐𝒇 π’‘π’π’˜π’†π’“ - 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 π’šπ’π’– π’ˆπ’π’• 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 π’•π’‰π’Šπ’π’ˆπ’”, 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒅 π’Šπ’• π’ˆπ’“π’π’˜π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒖𝒑. π’˜π’† π’•π’‰π’π’–π’ˆπ’‰π’• π’˜π’† π’Œπ’π’†π’˜ π’Šπ’• 𝒂𝒍𝒍, π’…π’Šπ’…π’'𝒕 π’˜π’†?"

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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maregred's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-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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stevie's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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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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sydneybedell's review

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emotional 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

4.0

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evagomoore's review against another edition

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hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.5

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camillatd's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

I really wanted to love this book. I was intrigued by the structure of interconnected short stories focusing on two characters over the course of decades, but it just didn't quite deliver for me. The narrative was too sparse for me to get to know the characters as well as I wanted to, which meant I wasn't as invested in their story. The narrative voice was also somewhat confusing--Jane's chapters are written in the first person, but Fiona's in the third. The story itself was compelling, and the writing was beautiful and evocative, but I just didn't love this book.
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