Reviews tagging 'Racism'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

59 reviews

lucyebradley7's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

erikawynn's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Death, Body horror, Transphobia, Racism, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

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

beth_cp1's review

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

calster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

“‘Ni zhi dao, Lucy girl, what real riches are?’ Lucy points to the pouch, which Ma tucks back in her dress. ‘Bu dui, nu er. I could spend this gold tomorrow and it would belong to someone else. No—I want us rich in choices. That’s something no one can take.’”

“She hears the cheer that goes through the city the day the last railroad tie is hammered. A golden spike holds track to earth. A picture is drawn for the history books, a picture that shows none of the people who look like her, who built it.
“The mountain man said that no man in this country could complete the railroad. He was right, after all.”

Beautiful, heartbreaking book. The first few chapters were hard to get into. They felt cold and disjointed, and I couldn’t help but feel indifferent towards the characters. After those initial chapters, however, the story blossomed and I fell in love—and at times, hated—all of them. The words Zhang carefully uses to tell their story are absolute perfection. This is a book that deserves to be read 3, 4, 5 times to fully grasp the meaning behind every sentence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Racism

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

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

anna_m_k's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Transphobia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage

ampam's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

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