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nialiversuch's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Racism, Toxic friendship, Death, Death of parent, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Infidelity, Rape, Violence, War, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Vomit
rachel101's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Body horror, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Drug abuse, Grief, Gore, Hate crime, Drug use, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content
fkshg8465's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Racism, Trafficking, War, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was pulled in right away! I didn’t want to put it down but also wanted to slow down so could savor the story. Beautiful writing once again from the author (I read and loved her debut last year). I’m a sucker for multiple timelines and POVs so this did not disappoint!
I also really liked the complex characters and their relationships. I learned a lot about pieces of history during/following the Vietnam War, which I always enjoy learning something new!
If you read this, grab tissues for last 25% 😭 I sobbed and was a wreck for the rest of the night and following day. This was a very hopeful and emotional read.
If my last read, Cecily, didn’t already have me in a mini slump I’m definitely in one now 😳 WHAT BOOK CAN FOLLOW THIS?! (This will also be my next “book to push into everyone’s hands”/go to recommendation)
Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Racism, Racial slurs, War, and Grief
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Child death
Minor: Infertility, Self harm, Dementia, and Vomit
blissof_jvanderhoof's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
In Dust Child we are taken back to the years, 2016 and 1969 respectively and as the story goes back and forth we learn of how some of the dust children, who are the children of Vietnamese women and VietNam soldiers, came to be. Two, in particular. And, while this story could be told in any way and really, be made interesting, the way in which this author has told the story, created, weaved the tale for readers, places it in an arena of literature from which we pick the books our children and their children will one day read. This really isn't a book but a work of art in words. And the writer took seven years to research the topic so that she could present a story as close to real life as she could make it!
When readers learn of what life was like for the dust children told from the view of Phong, as he was left at an orphanage, raised by a nun until the age of twelve and then left to fend for himself we can only image how many of these children survived and how hard it must have been to do so. Because the discrimination for children with Western features was so bad for these youths, Americans had a program in which, based on their features, they could immigrate to the country. America was called their Fatherland. I thought the name was quite cute (in an ironic, dark way) as they were all on this earth, basically, because of their fathers. When you have women who have suffering families and then, men come into their cities with money unlike they have ever seen, how can you blame some of them for taking advantage of that, as they do in the book, with prostitution.
At first, they are told they will just “drink tea” with the men. You only need to imagine (and read the book) to find out how the rest goes. In Dust Child, the females struggle with prostituting themselves, it is not something they want to do. And, when one of them places hope that in giving her heart to one of the soldiers, that he will save her, provide for her now and in the future, readers are left to learn the tale of what happened to these women through one woman, who was promised so much and left with only a burden, really.
And, while I hate to say, even as a mother myself, that a child can be a burden, it is the sad fact in life that, when a woman is not prepared to have a child, when she doesn't have the resources, she has a burden on her hands. There is no way we can always lay all the blame on the mother for this fact, either. Women in this situation, I am sure of it, do not want their child to be a burden. Every woman who finds herself with child wants to be happy. It is the sad fact that, in our world, at this time, not every woman can enjoy that feeling. But, is that not a reflection on the mother but on our society? Dust Child really highlighted the fact of the blame that is placed on the individual rather than the blame we should place on the whole, whoever that whole may be, society, parents, governments, even other individuals. How can a child be blamed, spit on, urinated on, for what his parents did, in making him? Have to struggle through life, with nowhere to turn and no help? As the story focuses on a boy living as a Dust Child and some of the women who made dust children, the time period, what their life was like with the soldiers, as, essentially, prostitutes, I only am left to imagine how hard it would have been like as a female dust child growing up, how hard that was. Sadly, not something we hear about directly here. But, Nguyen Phan Que Mai still has many more tales to tell, I am sure as this is her second book.
Dust Child is a book that will lead you to tears, in the end, as the story comes full circle and wraps itself up. The writer really did a superb job and I want to thank them and the publishers for the Goodreads win, my favorite, above all I have one. I have found an author I will follow forever as she presents life to readers without any varnish, even, stripped bare, to the bone. That is how I like to see life as that is how I feel I have, at this time, led mine (or have had to lead it). Of everything I thought about and learned I think that, most of all, this writer has taught me that sometimes the stories we construct in our minds about the events in our lives that happen, that we tell others, if we put bows and ribbons where there weren’t any, make a story sweeter when it was really sour, so that others do not suffer, maybe even so that we no longer suffer, that is okay. It's a part of life and living it. Something that needs to be done to be able to move on to the next part of life.
To every reader, no matter the genre you like or read, Dust Child is a must. I promise it's a story you won’t forget, it will stick with you and hopefully, become a part of you, a better part. However, that will only happen if you take a part of the story or all of the story and learn something from it. Something that makes a better you. Because I know this story made me a better person as I learned many things and could really, go on forever about them, in this review. I think I’ll end here, as it's long enough, and, hopefully, encouraged others enough to pick up a copy. As I promised, it will be worth it!
Thank you again to the author, and publisher for the Goodreads win, the best ever and the awesome (I assume) Vietnamese coffee (or latte, as I can't read Vietnamese)!
Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Classism
The book also deals with prostitution as a means of supporting a family