Reviews tagging 'Racism'

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

59 reviews

rishel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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: Racism, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

jourdanicus's review

mysterious reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

I loved the poetic prose, and how the story was moved along with more showing than telling. I appreciate how the author explored "alternate" history (not really alternate, because POC were absolutely a part of the history of Western colonization, but their stories were erased and excluded) through the lens of a single character/family. The end and how Lucy was treated as a character didn't sit right with me, though. This is not necessarily a flaw with the book itself; it's probably more to do with what it meant to me as an individual reader. I would still recommend it to read for anyone interested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Rape

schenkepanky's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Gun violence, Gore, and Death

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

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

poursandpages's review

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I enjoyed the middle two sections, but the beginning was slow and the end was really disjointed for me.
BUT the writing was absolutely beautiful & I will definitely be reading more by Zhang! Literary fiction people, this one is for you.

CW: animal abuse, child abuse, alcohol abuse, graphic descriptions, racism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Racism

haley313's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What an adventure!! A true western told from a different point of view. I loved Sam and Lucy with all their flaws. I loved the flow of the writing. The prose was both raw and delicate, delightful to read. The book moved fairly quickly and tackled some gruesome topics. I can just picture the rolling golden hills of California. A truly enjoyable read. If anything, it lost half a point for the brief departure into Sweetwater, which lacked the same depth as the rest of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Animal death 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

gracew's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

This book could have been amazing. Weaving in and out of time, there's a lot happening and a lot of aspects that really could have been really fantastic if woven together better. The biggest problem I have with this book is that it wasn't able to hold my attention for any length of time. I kept reading and rereading passages. There were moments when I would start to get drawn in, only to loose focus again. I thought the story dragged a bit but mostly I just didn't love the characters and couldn't really connect to most of them. It's not the worst book I've read but it was not for me at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape