Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

9 reviews

ominousspectre's review

4.0

Well now I am so very sad

It is cool to see a trans masc serve cunt amongst the sadness, but there is so much sad nonetheless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Minor: Dysphoria and Deadnaming

mighty_lizard_queen's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

3.0

A cross of As I Lay Dying and Grapes of Wrath

The book is very good for the first part, but once the father is buried I think it lost its way a little bit. I suppose the father was supposed to be redeemed but I didn't buy it. The ending was also unsatisfying and felt disconnected to the earlier parts of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Deadnaming, Grief, Trafficking, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Outing, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Sexism, Racism, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death of parent, Classism, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.75

The book is set in the 1800s so I don’t expect the cis character to have a big vocabulary on gender but it does seem a bit ridiculous at some point that she doesn’t understand or get that her sibling that addresses themselves as a boy and later a man, dresses to be seen as a man and introduces himself as her brother is a trans guy. I understand the character thinking initially her little sibling maybe was trying pretending to be the son the father wanted or because pay was better or society was kinder to boys but it continued his entire life and including in entirely private manners that her confusion or denial seemed like it would get addressed or confronted just not to which was frustrating to feel like the character was being misgendered???

The fourth part is the weakest and honestly somewhat seemed like a female protagonist suffering in a very gendered way just to suffer even if it was used to discuss gender and racial violence. The family dysfunction was really interesting. But I also felt like Lucy was constantly acting like she didn’t care or look out for her family despite being literally her only family member that basically made every decision considering their well-being first or literally being child. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia

kananineko's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Dysphoria, Grief, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, and Outing

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

Reminds me a lot of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It's very beautifully written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Blood, Racial slurs, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Genocide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Trafficking, Sexual content, and Cultural appropriation

savvylit's review

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

How Much of These Hills Is Gold is a beautifully written, sweeping Western epic. But it's also so much more than that. It's a meditation on the meaning of family and home as seen through the lens of the early U.S. Chinese immigrant experience.

I was totally engrossed and loved every minute of it.

Zhang's prose reminded me a lot of Karen Russell. Specifically Swamplandia. Like Swamplandia, this is a mostly tragic story about family dynamics set in a real place. Not only that but Zhang's descriptions of the land and people have the same dreamy magical realism elements that you would find in a Russell story. (Basically, I'm a huge fan of Russell and now I'm a huge fan of Zhang as well!)

If you like magical realism, sibling dynamics, and historical epics... read How Much of These Hills is Gold ASAP!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Deadnaming

amcghig's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Child death, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

jamesflint's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming and Transphobia

cereads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• 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: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Miscarriage

Minor: Deadnaming