Reviews with content warning for Violence - Di Situ Langit Dijunjung

Loved this book as a diasporic Malaysian Chinese person brought up in the US. My parents and family friends have spoken in passing about the race riots, but I didn't know the extent of how violent it was until reading this book. Even though it is historical fiction, it has given me more tools to ask my family about what happened during the 60s.

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twdlover's review against another edition

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emotional informative 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? Yes

3.0

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maple_dove's review against another edition

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challenging tense 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? No

3.0

Favorite Quotes:

Adults rarely like being told that they don't have all the answers, or worse still, that the answers they do have are all the wrong ones.

If you want to start an explosion, you light a match in the dynamite factory.

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an_everyday_penguin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

I did like this book actually. I did think it was pretty well-written and it did what it was trying to do. And it frustrates me but the narrator, Melati, would really annoy me at time. Sometimes it's because her OCD keeps getting in the way of everything, and then I'm like, no, that's probably just how it is with OCD I shouldn't get annoyed with her for it because she can't help that she has a mental disorder and she definitely wishes she didn't have it. So I feel bad about being annoyed and I understand struggling with mental issues, but at the same time, I couldn't help being annoyed. Her logic at times was just so insane, but it was also just her attempts at rationalizing things. Maybe that speaks to the author's ability to depict what having OCD is like.

Okay, but it's not just the OCD thing that bothered me. That I tried to be more understanding of because it's really hard to have a mental disorder, especially since she doesn't have any medication for it and nobody in her life knows what OCD is so they can't help her the way she needs to be helped. But sometimes the things she did just drove me crazy. She was, at the same time, one of the most passive narrators I've ever read, and the most active. I don't know how. But she would like insist on doing something dangerous, like going out in the middle of all the riots, and then just like be out there freaking out the entire time. It felt like things just happened to her.

I also struggle with that because she is like, 16 and there are people who want to kill her and bodies everywhere outside, so of course she's scared and struggling and just doing her best. There is a scene at the end, though, where I like, cringed and was scared of where the author was going to go. Not in terms of character deaths, but just something that Melati does that made me want to disappear. And then I was actually worried it would keep going and it would have made my rating tank. Thank God the author did not do that, though. If you want to know,

it's the scene where Melati, her mom, and the two kids are caught between two gangs charging at each other and she just gets out of the van and gives a speech about how being Chinese or Malay doesn't matter because like, every person is just a person and you can be a good person regardless of your ethnicity. She legit just stops both gangs from running at each other and I was worried that it was just going to be like, 'wow, she's right I guess we should put down our weapons and shake hands' moment. I was about to put the book down; thank God they just stopped in confusion then continued charging and started killing each other. Which sounds terrible, but it just wouldn't make sense to not do that

. It's just so unrealistic and ridiculous I don't even know why I thought it was a possibility.

I will admit I did get bored at times. I don't really know how because Melati would be going out and hiding from people and hoping she wasn't about to die, and I'd just be sitting in bed losing focus. I guess at times, it was a little repetitive, with her going out looking for her mom and not finding her. I mean, that's also probably realistic because if they found each other immediately, there wouldn't be a story, but from my standpoint as a reader, it got a little tedious.

Overall though, it was a pretty good book and I do think it was well written. I just had a few problems that I felt like shouldn't have been problems but were. I think I might read more YA books by this author, though.

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some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

[skimmed] Very suitable title.

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