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issianne's review
3.0
3.5 -- I really enjoyed this book, but there could've been soooooo much more fleshed out in the characters and the plot. I saw someone say this book was overambitious, and I couldn't agree more. I loved the concept and the overall themes and subjects touched on. I just needed about a hundred pages more of character development and purpose/drive.
cloudface's review
emotional
reflective
slow-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
3.5
The concept, characters, and story of this book were very compelling, but unfortunately I wasn’t in love with the writing itself. Technically, the writing is strong, but the author repeats the characters’ thoughts and motivations so many times that it began to feel redundant. It also suffers from a common symptom of books with multiple POVs; each character is given their own chapter to react and respond to whatever is happening in the plot, and it makes the story drag because we are reading about the same event 5 times.
I think if some of the exposition and internal monologuing had been trimmed, this book would have been perfect.
I think if some of the exposition and internal monologuing had been trimmed, this book would have been perfect.
amycanread_'s review
4.0
4.5/5
A group of Chinese-American college kids get involved with a Chinese billionaire’s mission to return stolen art back to Beijing - for the $50M reward, or something deeper?
An exploration of the children of the diaspora and claiming both Chinese and Western culture as our own. I saw so much of myself in these characters.
Not the most elegant in terms of the heist plot, but I don’t think the details of the thefts were the point of this book.
A group of Chinese-American college kids get involved with a Chinese billionaire’s mission to return stolen art back to Beijing - for the $50M reward, or something deeper?
An exploration of the children of the diaspora and claiming both Chinese and Western culture as our own. I saw so much of myself in these characters.
Not the most elegant in terms of the heist plot, but I don’t think the details of the thefts were the point of this book.
bibliobrandie's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fun book, Oceans Eleven meets art heist with themes of diaspora and identity and colonialism. There were some parts that were slow in the middle and 5 points of view made some parts repetitive but I like the way it ends. Super fun summer read!
ellozx's review against another edition
4.5
honestly the ending of this book really did surprise me. like half way through, i was enjoying the story but also finding it a bit mid and structureless or plotless ig? or at least just not having the traditional structure of the story that you expect so it's a little harder to predict what is happening in a lowkey bad way, but oml the ending saved the book. like everything after the 60% mark ish is just pure liquid gold. like their final idea??? omg the intelligence. anD THEN THE ROMANTIC SIDE PLOTS, i was deadass squealing while reading
i still do think that the writing style is a little too on the nose. like similar phrases are used a little too often and some of the themes or sentences are literally shoved down our throat repeatedly, but honestly, i enjoyed reading this book n it does encourage me to read more asian fic lmao
i still do think that the writing style is a little too on the nose. like similar phrases are used a little too often and some of the themes or sentences are literally shoved down our throat repeatedly, but honestly, i enjoyed reading this book n it does encourage me to read more asian fic lmao
enterprisingyoungman's review
5.0
literally nobody calls it the Santa Clara Valley, it's Silicon Valley -- why didn't Alex just work at the Google Manhattan office -- the intergenerational trauma felt heavy handed -- the falling action took forever to end -- stanfurd
mahovina's review
4.0
I might seem like this is the perfect Venn diagaram of my interests as an art historian, buuuuut it was a slow burn and it worked on some planes (love interests, etc)
nedmedcamus's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-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
3.75