Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

New York Ghost by Ling Ma

118 reviews

knitterscasket's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Death of parent

tbose22's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gun violence and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

sylvia_wrath's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

nyssbomb's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

acherry913's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book was a deeply troubling but amazing read, especially now during the COVID pandemic. The novel follows a young Chinese-American woman through her journey of safety, self-actualization, and understanding of the world. Taking place during a fungal epidemic, the dystopian environment eerily matches our own, complete with N-95 masks and locked-down cities. Themes of womanhood and perseverance guide this narrative through explorative travels and self-reflection. This is a great book to understand the immigrant struggle from a nuanced lens and an altered perspective of our current pandemic. However, with its closeness to reality, I would emphasize that Severance is not for the weak of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

takarakei's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I originally read this book in 2019. Back then I rated it 5 stars, which I feel was very rare for me as I was reading a lot less, but I wonder if seeds of this book planted itself into my subconscious.

Re-reading now in 2023 after going through a global pandemic, and quitting my shitty office job - I have a new perspective on life in general. It's rather eerie to read a book written before 2020 that got so many things right. I applaud Ling Ma who likely did a lot of research to make things so realistic. This book definitely reads more literary than sci-fi, although it is a dystopian setting (although I'd say about half the book is pre-pandemic reflecting that happens throughout the story). It is really a critique of our capitalist consumeristic society intertwined with the first generation immigrant millennial experience. I've read a few reviews where people say they don't like the main character Candice, but I would challenge people to question what it is they don't like about her. Because I would propose that perhaps the things they don't like about her (her stubbornness to continue going into work despite the absurd conditions) are perhaps things that they don't like about themselves. I truly don't think I would have gotten that perspective out of this book on my first read, so I am glad I re-read it.

**I recommend doing this one on audio or a combination of the audio + ebook/physical - because all the dialogue is written in that obnoxious way where there are no quotation marks. However, the narrator does a great job inflecting when people are talking, so that made it much easier to read.

To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

this is a pandemic novel, so most of the content warnings come from living in that apocalyptic world.

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Xenophobia and Alcohol

erindoesdesign's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Incredible. The pandemic depiction is so uncannily accurate that I spent the first half of the book assuming it had been published sometime in the summer of 2020 at earliest. Unexpectedly emotional in places. The way the story weaves from past to present is beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Car accident and Abandonment

Pandemic topics might be sensitive for some

aandromeda's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Thank you Ling Ma for reminding me that I love to read.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

alibrown's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Drug abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent