Reviews tagging 'Racism'

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure

8 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

kwahl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction

plasticpansy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

jchinzi's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Racism and Suicide

_inge's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This book gripped me from the second I started it. I really enjoyed the first half; Alva’s story was a great coming of age story, Lu Fang’s story felt less captivating to me, as it didn’t really tell me anything new and was too focused on whether he’d get into a relationship or not. Gradually Lu Fang’s character changed and his story therefore did get more interesting for a while. The writing is quite good too, though sometimes a bit too descriptive for me. Some words got repeated quite a lot too, like ‘squirt of sperm’ or ‘partner’, meaning those words lost their emotional meaning quickly. But still, I initially found this a captivating read. 

Unfortunately, about midway through both Alva and Lu Fang’s storylines got too bleak for me. In the first half there’d be hope for better times, but as both Lu Fang and Alva face traumatic experiences that hope got lost. At certain points it felt like the author was piling on misery to get the story to continue, even though what I’d enjoyed in the first half was the subtle frictions or discussions on identity. How Alva is perceived in her school environment was really interesting to read about, as was seeing how she perceived herself. This got lost in the traumatic events that unfolded in the second half.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexism, Rape, Child death, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Car accident, and Physical abuse

amy_park's review against another edition

hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Read this via audio and I enjoyed it. A dual perspective novel of a coming of age, teenage American Chinese girl and her Chinese stepdad living in Shanghai. Many themes were explored in this book, I.e identity, hope, West vs East culture, "American dream", ambition vs reality etc. An interesting look on immigration and culture. 
Some may argue this book explores too many themes, which I agree slightly. I think this book packs alot in, with many areas brushed upon and not explored as much as I would like.
I enjoyed the Alva sections more but did like to hear the backstory of Lu Fang, but towards the end his sections were rushed alot, as I think the author wanted to include alot of the history in China in these sections, but didn't pay off due to length
This book has alot of content warnings, so would suggest a review if dark themes trigger.  Overall would recommend (especially audio).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Self harm, Drug use, and Death

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

sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Racism, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child death, and Abandonment