Reviews

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

Only show reviews with written explanations

manyapx's review against another edition

5.0

“We would take turns snatching lychees on our tippy toes, careful not to get caught. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

“Once the fires had stopped, my great-grandfather dragged the body back to camp and buried his friend in a nearby field.”

“He thought of his parents and younger siblings sleeping deeply in the nearby earth, of the ocean that would be between them when they left.”

“Women, find a hiding place right away.
Cut your hair and pretend to be a boy.”

augie_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad 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

4.0

Content Warnings

xia_an_charlotte's review

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emotional 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? Yes

2.0

amyaad's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

roisinmarie_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

An honest and harrowing telling of a family’s experience escaping the hostilities at the end of the Vietnam War. The main character, Anh, and her two brothers, split up from their family to make the treacherous journey to be rehomed. Their family promise to follow them in a few weeks, but unfortunately lose their lives in the process.

The book follows the three siblings on their experience of living in containment camps in both Hong Kong and the UK for months and years at a time. It is based on the author’s mothers real experience and has incredibly moving moments. The book is quite short and to the point, but is still written in a way that evokes empathy and sympathy for the characters. It is crazy to me that this took place less than fifty years ago, and is still occurring in the world today.

The terror felt by the people who had to undertake journeys similar to this is unimaginable to me, and I know the privilege I have in being able to say that. I found Anh near the end of the book discussing how she found it difficult to accept her children’s problems as they were so different and less significant than her and her sister’s problems at the same age as an extremely interesting point. Especially in terms of when I complain compared to people who have far worse experiences than me.

This book is such an important read to experience history in a more personable way and to learn about the experiences of people who have made this journey, but also who died during their journey.

eilllidh's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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

cecilialau_'s review against another edition

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4.0

So glad I finally read this (a year after the wp longlist shout).
It’s a very interesting genre-bend of a novel, and it takes its beginning in 1978s Vietnam. This is a story that I’m very happy to have been told, and I think we all need to recognise the immigrant experience (those of us not forced to make that decision for ourselves and our family) beyond what we’re told by the mainstream media.
I highly recommend.

I actually loved the addition of Dao and the articles that put us back in “real” time more so than the story on it’s own. I’m not always so great with auto-fiction in the addition of Jane but I think it mostly worked, and I understand the choice. The part about covid get a little forced but I, again, completely understand the choice to include it as the book wants to confront us - especially those not of Asian descent - with what ignorance and lack of decency looked/looks like.