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mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition
3.0
3- “It was okay”
I think this was a pretty middle of the road memoir for me. The author narrates the entirety from the perspective of her childhood self and hits on some important issues with being the child of undocumented immigrants.
For me, the lack of contextualization made this a weaker memoir. There is no hindsight, the author doesn’t bring any of her present understandings to bear on these past memories. You kind of just get the stories. Which is fine, but doesn’t make it a standout for me. I didn’t get a sense that there was a call to action, any insight, just observation.
I also thought she lingered too long on some of the animal violence and excrement pieces of her childhood memories. There wasn’t much of a point to those parts of the stories.
Overall, an okay read.
I think this was a pretty middle of the road memoir for me. The author narrates the entirety from the perspective of her childhood self and hits on some important issues with being the child of undocumented immigrants.
For me, the lack of contextualization made this a weaker memoir. There is no hindsight, the author doesn’t bring any of her present understandings to bear on these past memories. You kind of just get the stories. Which is fine, but doesn’t make it a standout for me. I didn’t get a sense that there was a call to action, any insight, just observation.
I also thought she lingered too long on some of the animal violence and excrement pieces of her childhood memories. There wasn’t much of a point to those parts of the stories.
Overall, an okay read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Racism
dreamer626's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
taylorfield's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.5
April 2024 Book Club read
Long Story Short: At 5-years-old, Qian Julie Wang and her mother left China for the “Beautiful Country” to reunite with her father, who’d been in the US for two years already. This memoir follows the strife, sacrifice, and resilience of the next five years through the lens of a child’s eyes.
<blockquote>“There was a Chinese idiom I came to know later because Ma Ma and Ba Ba would repeat it to me in those moments: “Purple comes from blue but is superior to blue.” It was inevitable, they seemed to believe, that I would one day outshine them in the best and worst ways.”</blockquote>
I greatly admire Qian Julie Wang’s bravery to share her childhood trauma and the imperfections of her family, and as a random reader I’m not owed any further acknowledgement or explanations of her life’s story and experience in America. At the same time, because so many explanations were left out, I found myself having to guess about catalysts, intentions, and reasonings. <i>Beautiful Country</i> reads more like a child’s diary, which is fine, but not what I expected based on the blurb and “How It Began” sections. So many things were glossed over despite them feeling really important.
Enjoyment: 2/5
Craft: 3/5
Overall: 2.5/5
Long Story Short: At 5-years-old, Qian Julie Wang and her mother left China for the “Beautiful Country” to reunite with her father, who’d been in the US for two years already. This memoir follows the strife, sacrifice, and resilience of the next five years through the lens of a child’s eyes.
<blockquote>“There was a Chinese idiom I came to know later because Ma Ma and Ba Ba would repeat it to me in those moments: “Purple comes from blue but is superior to blue.” It was inevitable, they seemed to believe, that I would one day outshine them in the best and worst ways.”</blockquote>
I greatly admire Qian Julie Wang’s bravery to share her childhood trauma and the imperfections of her family, and as a random reader I’m not owed any further acknowledgement or explanations of her life’s story and experience in America. At the same time, because so many explanations were left out, I found myself having to guess about catalysts, intentions, and reasonings. <i>Beautiful Country</i> reads more like a child’s diary, which is fine, but not what I expected based on the blurb and “How It Began” sections. So many things were glossed over despite them feeling really important.
Enjoyment: 2/5
Craft: 3/5
Overall: 2.5/5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Domestic abuse
Poverty, hunger, child laboranniover's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail
diraclotus's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Animal cruelty
sprucewillow's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
4.5
I loved listening to this, has horrible as the trauma was.
I wish there were more good things that happened but who knows if that was due to the author excluding them or good things really did just rarely happen.
I wish there were more good things that happened but who knows if that was due to the author excluding them or good things really did just rarely happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Medical content, Child abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Genocide
caoxtina's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
shortstackz's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
3.5
This is a tough read for anyone who has experienced childhood food insecurity. Qian has a very lyrical writing style, leaving the reader to infer a lot about the inner lives of her parents throughout the story. It centers around the years where they were undocumented in the US, and I wish she delved more into the aftermath and unpacking of it. The lart chapter is a sprint through her adulthood, I would have liked to see how her life in Canada further contrasted against her Chinese and American lives. Particularly as she focused on her mother's journey throughout the memoir. It's easy to forget the political context of their move, especially when you see the glaring mysogyny of the father. A tough family dynamic between all involved, and a family struggling to find safe haven.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Medical content
sarah_speaks's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Racism
keekbeeek's review against another edition
DNF AT 58%
This is an incredibly sad book. Within these pages we relive the trauma that Qian experienced as a child in America. It’s almost as if Qian wrote this book in order to process her childhood trauma— every single page and story was filled with visceral pain and trauma. May you feel grateful for your own childhood after reading this? Possibly. But at what cost?
This is an incredibly sad book. Within these pages we relive the trauma that Qian experienced as a child in America. It’s almost as if Qian wrote this book in order to process her childhood trauma— every single page and story was filled with visceral pain and trauma. May you feel grateful for your own childhood after reading this? Possibly. But at what cost?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia