Reviews

Little Gods by Meng Jin

aoife_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

rachel_rheinhart's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

natalie_is_reading's review against another edition

4.0

Love me a historical family drama, this was not what I expected and a bit confusing at times but very interesting

_philly_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-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? No

3.75

hiitsmecassie's review against another edition

4.0

i liked it a lot it was a nice story i see a lot of reviews saying that the use of no quotation marks is hard to get use to but tbh that’s not true i literally stopped noticing that after maybe a few pages in plus it’s really not a dialogue heavy book so it really doesn’t impact your reading

itisnatal's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

lizmart88's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a brilliant novel, and I devoured it! Wow, what a story. Meng Jin builds such a cool structure where we see someone (Su Lan) and their life without ever hearing from their own voice. The story is told from Su Lan's daughter Liya, now grappling with her mother's death when she is very young in her early twenties. And from Su Lan's former husband and Liya's father (unbeknownst to her) telling the story of his life. We also hear from Su Lan's former housemate who knew her for a few years. 

The story is told not in linear fashion and it does such a good job of pivoting from person to person and across times. It felt like every scene was perfectly chosen to reveal something about the character. 

Definitely recommend!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death of parent

nil033's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Violence and Death of parent

Minor: War and Police brutality

mharris61's review against another edition

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

selena_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5