Reviews with content warning for Racism - Last Tang Standing

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho

10 reviews

bookcasey's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I think this book could be cathartic for some people, but the main character responds to her every emotion with alcohol, which I generally find incredibly tedious. The whole book is painfully slow, especially given how little actually happens, and I wasn’t rooting for the main character at all.

I considered DNF several times but hung in there because I’d heard such great things and wondered if the book would improve. It didn’t.

It’s a midlife crisis book far more than a romance, this time featuring a workaholic lawyer in Singapore.

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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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slow-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

2.0

The climax / purpose of this story felt discombobulated. I appreciated the fact that this story centered around a woman in her thirties and not set in the United States. But that was kind of the only parts I liked about this book. How can we attempt to discuss the racism between cultures/ races when the matriarch says something offensive and our MC is like “ oh okay I get that.” What? I’m not entirely sure I’ll read her next book but maybe it’ll be different.

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cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

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This book is not funny to me. I enjoy generational stories and enjoy books where family expectations are contrasted with the main characters values. However, all of the characters are the beginning of the book are mean spirited.

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adrianamireia's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

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rebeccameyrink's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall this was a fun, lighthearted romantic comedy. This book really does feel like Bridget Jones (in form, style and tone) meets Crazy Rich Asians (family and location.)

It took me a little bit to get into the flow of the writing but when I did I really enjoyed myself.

Only downside for me was the amount of fat phobia at the start of the novel, and a strange moment when the main character respects respects someone for keeping a racist painting in his home. This point could have easily been made in another way. Also Bukowski was such a strange choice for her favourite poet and to be mentioned so many times lol.

Anyways, I did really enjoy this book for the most part and it would make an amazing movie!

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quesara's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is very Crazy Rich Asians meets The Hating Game but in a diary-entry style of writing. I think that’s what made this story difficult to keep me engaged in was that the diary-entry writing glossed over many of the book’s highlights that kept the plot going.

For example with the romance scenes or the date scenes with Eric and Orson, we only got the recapped version whereas I would’ve preferred to read them as they happened. I fell like that could’ve established the romance and helped the story flow so much better. I also felt like the romance with Suresh just kind of came out of nowhere? Like one moment is a yay Eric and the next is Suresh looks good today, I’m into him now. It felt very disorganized in many places. (/spoiler)

Aside from that, I enjoyed Andrea’s condescending tone in the book and her outlook on the world. There were many times that I clasped my hand to my mouth at some plot twists. This was a good quick read or a good beach/pool read for sure.

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nonfirqtion's review against another edition

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sexist and racist contents against minorities in Singapore. Stopped after the first 4 chapters because I did not want to subject myself to the inane and asinine thought processes of a privileged woman whose feminism resembles that of White feminism... Perhaps Lauren Ho wanted to portray this privileged woman satirically, but she failed and only succeeded in making me annoyed that I spent my afternoon on this book. No form of critical engagement to sexism (the character perpetuates) and racism (the protagonist mother says or even recognising that her calling a minority with a different name is not a power move but a microaggression that so many minorities experience) at all.

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