Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

10 reviews

tetedump's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Racism, Gore, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

cass_lit's review against another edition

3.25

I know Sam is a child who wasn’t allowed to have a childhood, but I kind of hate them. I know people are complex and not all bad or good, but I wanted to skip Part III because I didn’t want Ba‘s side of the story. I know it’s probably accurate representation of what Asian immigrants/Asian Americans, especially women and girls, faced in that time but I don’t *enjoy* reading about blatant racism and violence (physical and sexual; references and mentions, not on-page). I sped through abuse (animal abuse included).

All in all, I think this is an important read. As with most historical fiction, you get to know people’s stories and histories. As much as I didn’t like Sam or questioned some of Lucy’s decisions, I loved the sibling relationship.  As much as their parents were messed up, I liked the discussions of familial issues and trauma. This wasn’t a time period I’ve read about before, and I certainly wasn’t taught it from an Asian American perspective. It just wasn’t an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Drug abuse

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Death, Racism, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Blood, and Death of parent

kaneebli's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

very depressing and upsetting historical fiction western that almost ends with a bittersweet, hopeful ending

but at the last second, Lucy decides to sell herself into sexual slavery in order to pay off some wealth-hoarding bastards that Sam stole gold from. and then when she finally gets out of the forced prostitution (after an indeterminate amount of time) Lucy decides to not follow Sam across the ocean after all. and I guess she just stays in the California desert with no friends or family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Colonisation, Grief, Sexism, Death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Child death, Animal death, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Genocide

signeskov's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia

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

freddie_mewcury's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Grief, Racism, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Rape

darkmattersoybean's review

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Sexual content

sarah984's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Parts of this book were beautiful and thought-provoking, but overall it was so miserable the whole way through that I couldn't really enjoy it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Cannibalism, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Transphobia, and Rape

tam's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape