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ani_raven's review
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Abandonment
Moderate: Dysphoria, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Classism, and Death
Minor: Rape
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Racism, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Colonisation, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Excrement, Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, and Rape
scifi_rat's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, Racial slurs, Bullying, Abandonment, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content and Transphobia
brynpemery's review
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Grief, and Abandonment
quiettalker's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death, Child death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism
Minor: Rape, Child abuse, Animal death, Slavery, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence
tetedump's review
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Racism, Gore, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
tfortilney's review against another edition
The concept of How Much of These Hills Is Gold is fascinating. Two Chinese-American siblings, one of them what you’d probably call gender-queer today, fending for themselves in the American West in the gold rush era — There is so much potential here, and I’m sure a lot of people will love this novel.
It is, however, not a novel for me, and I after reading more than 1/3 I felt it would be fairer to the book to dnf it rather than finishing it knowing I’d not give it a great rating, no matter how the next 2/3 went. I also want to “allow” myself to dnf books more often because forcing myself to finish books I don’t enjoy only makes me less enthusiastic about reading.
There’s two main things I struggled with with this novel, neither something I would ever call bad writing, just things I didn’t vibe with. One is Zhang’s poetic, sometimes abstract style which is just not my jam. (By the way, why is the century obscured when years are given (XX42), when, from the way the setting is described, it has to be the 1800s?)
The other is the immense amount of various kinds of violence the protagonists, particularly Lucy, experience. I understand that they are realistic for the setting, but I found reading such a bleak story very draining and had to force myself to pick the book up again.
To illustrate this, here’s a non-exhaustive list of violent events from the novel:
Physical and psychological child abuse Racism, including racial slurs Violence against animals, including a man purposefully breaking a three-legged dog’s last functioning hind-leg. A grown man hitting on a 12-year-old girl Two kids carrying around their father’s corpse for two months, with detailed description of said corpse’s decay
Nope. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do that.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Animal cruelty
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
- 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 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.
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia
ash_ton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Addiction, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, and Physical abuse
Minor: Bullying, Animal death, Child death, Vomit, and Animal cruelty
kananineko's review
- 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
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