Reviews tagging 'War'

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure

3 reviews

jo_d's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The characters are so real, so human. A young teenage girl acts like a young teenage girl and it is heartbreaking and beautiful. 
I liked it. It's not a story on morality, or how to act properly, it's a story of three interesting people tied into a dysfunctional family. They're all liars and hurting and imperfect and don't often say the right thing and it's honest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, War, Suicide, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Abortion

kaddictwithapen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Toxic friendship, Racism, Self harm, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, War, and Violence

veeteegee's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a book that took a little while to fully grasp my attention, but I found one it did, it wasn’t released until its conclusion. The dual perspectives of Alva and Lu Fang offered a gift in providing two very different tales of longing, disappointments, triumphs, and everything in between set in two very different Chinas with a shared goal of escaping the  norm or the standard route in their own ways. I find myself curious about where their respective stories would continue to converge and divert from one another, especially in relation to their shared link to Sloan. It was definitely not a happy story, but in the sadness Aube Rey Lescure created a tale that was beautiful in its heartbreaks too.  

I am immensely grateful to the publisher for the receipt of this advanced reader’s copy of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Self harm

Minor: Xenophobia, Violence, and War