Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu, Hua Hsu

12 reviews

dowleyrachel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Honestly, I'm still gathering my thoughts on this one. I thought this was going to be a book about about a friend dying. In a way, it was. But it was more so about identity and coming to know one's self through adolescence and the feeling of the world being wide open and full of potential in college. Hsu writes about it in a way that feels perfectly nostalgic, playful, and not-shaming of the blind confidence one has in youth. I feel that Hua Hsu so beautifully captures the big emotions felt in little moments with friends, the bold/naïve bravery in which enters into adulthood, and the silly adventures that become the most cherished. Hsu doesn't answer all the questions about authenticity or how we tell stories. But he reflects on how who we are now shapes our memories of history and our history shapes us now; past and present ever conversing in dialogue as the future approaches us. Definitely one I'd like to read again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Pedophilia, Hate crime, and Rape

bites_of_books's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Stay True is Hua Hsu's memoir centering his college years and his friendship with Ken, a fellow classmate. 

I had no previous knowledge of Hua Hsu but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of his memoir, it goes into a young Taiwanese American man's life as he navigates his journey through college. He strives to be alternative and fully outside of the mainstream, which was quite enjoyable for me. His passion for writing starts with putting together zines about his favorite subjects, mainly music. 

I really enjoyed learning about his participation in activism around campus and the history of activism during various times in history. I didn't enjoy the philosophy sections as much, but that's just a personal preference. 

Overall I'd recommend the audio since it also allowed me to hear the emotions in certain sections of the book, which made it even more powerful. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Drug use, Kidnapping, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Murder

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Dysphoria, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Alcohol, and Hate crime

Minor: Racial slurs, Bullying, Sexual content, and Antisemitism

thewellreadmrs's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Hate crime, Racism, Gun violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Death, Drug use, and Bullying

vklyle99's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Drug use

danpeachey's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Grief, and Gun violence

annamgoodman's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Murder

cady_sass's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

It feels wrong to be critical about a non fiction personal story, and I don’t necessarily have anything negative to say, but this feels overall like there isn’t any definitive point. It’s very stream of consciousness, which can be fine, but there’s no core statement being made here. I find individual points very poignant and resonant, especially where the author describes his experience as an Asian American immigrant adolescent and college student, and the story of his friends death is senseless and horrible, but it’s just a very long op ed as opposed to a short memoir. Read in just a few hours and perfectly fine read, but ultimately a smidge forgettable. Take my review with a grain of salt, perhaps I’m just not the right audience for this and/or it’s not a style that I love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, and Kidnapping

poenaestante's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I had a huge crush on Hua back in college when he was a senior and I was a sophomore.  I admired how "over it' he always seemed, dawdling about campus in his ratty thrift store clothing. He was already, at that time, a pretty great writer with impressive taste in music and movies. I had no idea about his friend Ken and what had happened until I read an interview with him a few months ago. In hindsight, I feel so silly, so bad that I was clueless about all this. I thought the brooding personality was hipster affect rather than true sorrow. No one told me. I could never have imagined....Not that there was anything I could have said or done to be helpful, but it would have maybe changed the way I approached Hua. Who knows? We were kids.

Hua is a masterful writer. and this is a moving book -- if at times, in the latter half, overly-ponderous and morose. What's the right way to show up and pay homage when something so inutterably horrible happens to someone you love? I do not know. That said, Hua makes a most valiant attempt at it, while telling a complicated and inspiring immigrant kid's coming-of-age story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Murder, and Drug use

kaymay29's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

I enjoyed the actual story of the author and his friends and the recounting his feelings and perspective on the events covered in the book, however throughout the book the author will use 1-2 pages to give a mini history lesson or explain theory. Personally, the theory explanations didn’t help me understand the theories when he later applied them to his life ( I feel adequately explaining theory requires more than one or two pages), I found them boring and at times didn’t see how some of the history lessons contributed to the writing. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: War, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Drug use and Mass/school shootings

* The author gives descriptions of horrific events of the 90s at points in the book such as, hate crimes, murders, and child molestation.