Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew

9 reviews

kaneebli's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Classism and Animal death

scmiller's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

3.7/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Deportation, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Child death, and Bullying

Minor: Torture, Body shaming, Terminal illness, Violence, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Cancer, and Death

nebulous40's review

challenging emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide and Racism

storiesofsophie's review

emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs

Minor: Suicide and Bullying

lea_fox's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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

5.0

• AAPI month — excellent rep
• Mother/Daughter relationship — especially close to Mother’s Day, not everyone has a perfect relationship with their own mothers (life is messy, so are families)
• Racism — focus on Chinese in Canada
• Statelessness — discussion on immigration and citizenship
• Culture — Chinese vs Canadian (and how they mix together)
• Female roles — work, family, and personal (how do we fit in?); great discussion
• Families — what do mixed families look like, how do they function; great discussion
• Hockey reference — always like to see the Great One on the page #99

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

zee's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

4.0

Dandelion is a beautiful story of a woman's search for understanding after her Mother disappeared (left) with no trace as a pre-teen, urged on as she herself becomes a new mother. A poignant tale of family, isolation, culture, and statelessness, all while Lily reconciles with post-partum depression.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

markedwithanm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent and Pregnancy

library_dreamer's review against another edition

4.0

 Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew is a story about immigration, identity, and motherhood. At 11 years old, Lily's mother leaves her family behind to never be heard from again.

Flash forward to Lily as an adult. She's now a mother herself and wants answers, but not one in her family will speak about her mother to her. She then sets on a journey to discover what happened to her mother and define her own identity.

This was beautifully written. The audiobook was superbly narrated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Racism

ccwingreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

What is home? What does it mean to belong somewhere? Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew is engaging and emotional. The first half of this novel follows Lily's family in a small Canadian mining town where her father only looks forward, wanting to leave the past behind, while her mother longs for her roots in the world they left behind, in Brunei. 

Since the reader knows from the synopsis that Lily's mother, Swee Hua, leaves the family, I spent the first half wondering what the incident(s) would be that drives this decision. The last half of the book follows Lily, now a mother herself, as she sets out to find the mother who left them behind.

I admit I expected her mother leaving to occur much earlier, but I still chased the ending, wanting to know what happened to Swee Hua. I went through this book in a day and really enjoyed it. This book also shows a Chinese experience outside of Eastern Asia, which is very important.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Racism

Content Warnings that include spoilers:

Mention of death, suicide, death of a parent