Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - New York Ghost

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

New York Ghost by Ling Ma

107 reviews

nadia's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I'm so glad I've finally read this one and I really liked it. A very interesting experience to read it on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic and spot parallels to what we've just lived through. I appreciated the book's structure and alternating perspectives and felt immersed in both strands. Ling Ma's writing was great and succeeded in generating an ongoing eerie, unsettling atmosphere from the get-go.

If anything, I'd have been happier with a slightly longer book. For one, I wanted a little more exploration — more story — beyond the ending that we're left with, though what we were given did work and fit the vibe of the book. I guess I wanted more because the whole thing was working so well!

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ladylothlorien's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-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

I find it nearly impossible to put down my thoughts on this book. There is something eerie about reading a pre-pandemic book about a pandemic and then to have so much of it ring true made it a difficult read. It was slow and depressing for a long time and then an event happened that added a sense of urgency to the narrative which carried through to the end. It meant the pacing was a little weird but honestly this book is a little weird: at times satirical and at others poetically reflective. Overall I would say I enjoyed it but I think it also brought up COVID feelings that I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with. And the themes surrounding the term “severance” will be rattling around in my head for a long time.

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michelleka's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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sakisreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

Ooh, I LOVED this book so much. I thought that because of its current popularity on BookTok, it had been written during the pandemic, but it turns out it had been published in 2018 which gave me a sense of foreshadowing 😳

Ling Ma captures the boredom of day-in, day-out hustle culture for the big men; in her Bible production job in New York, it’s evident she’s not loving life but she’s just keeping it going.
In sharp contrast, her perspective on Shen Fever taking over the city and her having to join this group of ‘survivors’ is so interesting and once I’d gotten into the different flashbacks I couldn’t put this book down.

I wasn’t expecting Ashley’s fevered time in her house and could picture all that so clearly. This element of horror was intense and I was wide-eyed the entire time reading it 😳

I really loved the ending to this book as well. I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen in the end but I’m glad it ended the way it did 🥹

SHE GOT AWAY WITH THE BABY, NICE ✨

I would highly recommend this to people who are fans of reading Asian literature and about the immigrant experience… All with a twist. This book reminded me a little bit of The School for Good Mothers! Thank you so much ❤️

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jjbug86's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

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taratearex's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

I was very skeptical about whether I would like this book based on some reviews I've seen, but I think going in knowing this isn't a typical "zombie apocalypse" book helps. I think the audiobook really enhanced my experience, but honestly I think it was just the perfect book at the moment for me and I loved it. I thought everything worked so well, I loved the critiques of capitalism, especially in the face of a pandemic- the fact that this was written in 2018 and gets so much right is so disturbing and depressing. I loved the focus on the mundane routines as the world slowly falls apart, I wanted to scream "why are you working right now?!?!" but then I look around at where we're currently at, sigh. I've seen a number of reviews say they didn't like the ending and personally it totally worked for me, honestly everything just totally worked for me. It was all a little too close to home, but somehow comforting in a really fucked up way.

I highly recommend the audiobook read by Nancy Wu, I already looked up books she narrates as I just think she was so amazing and got the character vibe and the satirical mood so perfectly.

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