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baileyanabella's review
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Not a bad book, just not really my favorite type of story. This is a portrait of two characters lives, a deep look at the intricacies of their personalities. But I didn't find them particularly interesting or relatable characters, so this unfortunately just didn't hit for me. The setting was interesting and not one I've seen much of before so I did have fun with that and it kept me intrigued when the story didn't. Overall just left me feeling sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Animal death
trop_de_livres's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Alva is 14-years old, the biracial daughter of an American woman living in Shanghai. When her mother marries a Chinese man, Alva’s teenage rebellion begins in earnest. Told in alternating chapters (Alva/her stepfather), this story spans several decades of recent Chinese history. I found the story fascinating at first and was fully invested until a certain event happened that made me dislike the mother so much that I could no longer enjoy the book. I’m not sure why the author chose to make the mother so abhorrent if she wanted us to care about this family. There is another event involving Alva that is also stomach-churning. If you want to tell a family story you need to have at least one person to root for, and after a while I didn’t even care what happened to Alva. It is a shame, because the writing is extremely good but my stomach is not strong enough to handle these kinds of plot points. I was lent this book from NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Alcoholism
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