Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

14 reviews

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

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

quiettalker's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

This was so disappointing. Everything from Sweetwater onward fell flat and felt underdeveloped. It was extra disappointing because the first 3/4 were incredible.

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Content Warnings

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

ash_ton's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• 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

read this for LGBTQ+ book club :) it was pretty good! i'm longing for more from the ending though.

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Content Warnings

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

miscarriage is a stillborn baby

jialianyang's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

A moving, gritty odyssey of two Chinese American children during the gold rush era. They reflect on the question of 'what is home' as they fight in different ways for survival after their parent's death/ losses in a hostile society where everyone wants riches and will do violence to secure it. This story is wild, made with flesh blood and bone, dusty, muddy and captivating as gold and flowers in the hills of California. It is poetry in story, a confessional, an obituary, a wish, a dream. Read only if you are prepared to be haunted by truths and lies, ghosts, gender, beasts human and animal, fear and desire, hope and hopelessness. Nothing is clean in this book, yet there is beauty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death, Eating disorder, Blood, Excrement, Racism, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

jamesdavid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Sexism, Rape, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Animal death, Transphobia, and Sexual assault

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

mandy_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

katrina_and_the_page's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

This is a phenomenal read about searching- for gold, for home, for purpose, for peace- and a unique kind of sisterhood. From the first page, I was fully immersed in the story and constantly on edge. The people and places in this story are so vividly depicted that they’ll stay with you long after reading. Writing like C Pam Zhang’s, that is so powerful it causes a physical response, is rare. Read it!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Death, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Murder, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, and Child death

erniedresser's review

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia