Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

24 reviews

jellobean's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was a very pleasant read! I got to the end and smiled and said "that was just a good, fun book." I would love to read more in a series surrounding Snow and her companions. Her first-person POV was a delight, and I would have loved for the author to include even more footnotes from Snow! I think strong personalities such as hers is what makes first-person narration shine. 

It seemed as though the author put value in consistency of approximate chapter length and switching POV each chapter. As a result, I was not as interested in Bao's story by the end. I enjoyed his character and his arc, but it felt as though our time with him was a little wasted in that we were repeating a lot of the exposition from previous chapters, just in a different setting/triggered by different events. I think I would have more enjoyed fewer Bao chapters spread out a little more, or just more variation in his plot. 

I appreciated all of the research that was clearly put in to fox folklore and the historic setting. There are a few loose ends that I felt weren't quite wrapped up, but overall a great read!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, and Misogyny

Moderate: Grief and Sexual harassment

Minor: War, Xenophobia, and Murder

amberacks12's review

dark informative mysterious sad

• 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

I think this book might be my favorite I’ve read this year. Utterly absorbing, mysterious, with tons of insights into an unfamiliar culture, tradition, and historical time period. Choo perfectly captures the haunting, atmospheric tone reminiscent of fairytales and mythology, and entwines it with engaging storylines and interesting characters that at once feel strange and real at the same time. 
The fox characters especially were my favorite, and I think purposely written so you never were quite sure if they were fox or human. 
I really enjoyed the audiobook too. It’s read by the author and her smooth, gentle tone definitely aided in building the haunting atmosphere, not to mention her pronunciations of all the Chinese words and phrases. That’s not something I would have gotten reading on my own. 
Yangsze Choo has all of sudden become an author I think I will be reading everything she has written, and everything she has yet to write. 

Enjoyment: 5
Emotional impact: 5
Educational value: 5
= 5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement and Blood

Minor: Suicide

kmack1230's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Child death

woolerys's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book. First of all, the prose is lovely. It got repetitive at times but this helped create the impeccable pacing and added to the poetic quality. The plot was complex and revealed so deliciously slowly; there’s a stretch where you *are* getting answers but each answer spawns three new questions. And you just know at least one murder is going to happen… oh wait maybe more than one… The foreshadowing on one of them just about killed me. The characters were great and—mild, vague spoiler—

the fox characters, while being very human throughout the events in the present tense, did have a certain mischievousness and/or carelessness to them that made them believable as fox spirits even in their human forms.

So much chaos. 

 

The setting—1908 in Manchuria—does include a lot of misogyny, so check content warnings if certain circumstances or abuses in that category are likely to be triggering. The narrators acknowledge it, but they are more bystanders than either perpetrators or harbingers of justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Grief, Misogyny, and Trafficking

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexual violence

A mother grieving the death of her child and seeking revenge is pretty central to the plot.

freemakd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Animal death, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Child death, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

snorinlauren411's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Death

liadh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Confinement, Violence, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Physical abuse, and Vomit

heini's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Grief, Confinement, Sexual harassment, and Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

scmiller's review

hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Grief, Hate crime, Animal death, Classism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Trafficking, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Pedophilia, War, and Alcohol