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dreamer626's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
taylorfield's review against another edition
2.5
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
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Domestic abuse
Poverty, hunger, child laborsprucewillow's review against another edition
4.5
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.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Medical content, Child abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Genocide
caoxtina's review against another edition
3.5
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
keekbeeek's review against another edition
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?
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
menomica's review against another edition
For all those who remain in the shadows: May you one day have no reason to fear the light.
I guess I’m just not a nonfiction girlie. The prose was also bit 🫤.
Graphic: Racism, Classism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
xeniba's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Medical trauma, Child abuse, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
parasolcrafter's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Deportation, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Violence, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Racism, Sexism, Chronic illness, Grief, Hate crime, Pedophilia, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Excrement
jobaji's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Medical content, Deportation, Racism, Cancer, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body shaming
shakakan's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia