Reviews

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

sydneygard36's review

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

4.75

purplepaperback's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

shadylane_00's review

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emotional informative 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

ddmgembala's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

bonzoobel's review

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5.0

wtflip. it's difficult for books to get me to shed a few tears but this one made me flatout bawl when i finished it. i loved every single line, the prose is meticulously crafted and the imagery is so visceral its crazy. nasima...... GWHWJHHGHHHUU@#UE)...... words cannot describe.  ITS SO OVER. NO OTHER BOOK CAN COMPARE.

mgmacavoy's review

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dark emotional reflective sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

lemurking's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25

ime0509's review

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

2.0

texreader's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

An Afghan family escape Kabul, through Pakistan, then on an overloaded boat to Nauru, the holding island for refugees to Australia. Told from a preteen girl, she experiences such hardship often unknowing how much worse it could be. So many thing were special about this book: 1) the plight of refugees everywhere, 2) told from the perspective of a child, 3) revealing Australia faces a refugee crisis like the rest of the world and handling it poorly like the rest of the world. This is an extremely difficult book to read—the family is pummeled with everything that can go wrong. When you just want them to survive. And I learned how Nauru was once one of the richest countries per capita in the world until it was stripped of its natural resources, only to become a “holding pen” for the “undesirable” immigrants. Fortunately it’s a short read. But an important one.

fermqs's review

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3.0

Although it took me a while to get used to writing style, by the end I really liked how the story was told by weaving the fairy tales in the dialogue and in the whole narrative. It's really moving how it shows the hard reality of the situation whilst gives the reader a glimpse of hope and joy in the saddest moments. It's not an easy story to read but it's really well crafted. I really liked the ending of the book.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.