Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

11 reviews

sprucewillow's review against another edition

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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.

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bookish_garden's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5


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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I really don't know if I would have been able to manage this memoire without listening to the Audiobook, deftly narrated by the author. Being self-narrated it dodged a lot of messy casting issues such as having a reader who could not pronounce Chinese. I'm thankful for that.

Beautiful Country is a direct translation of the Chinese term for USA  美国 - Mĕiguó . Whenever I hear " Mĕiguó " spoken, I picture the characters in my mind. A year working at a Chinese Newspaper will do that to a nerdy lass who likes languages. I have always been struck by how ironic the name is. The memoire written is an awakening from a childhood where the author needs to protect herself over and again, from the perils of being an "illegal" migrant. When any false word could get you deported, you learn to say what people want to hear. 

From sweat shops, and bigoted teachers, buying the cheapest food possible, and making do with forgaed treasures, this is a candid story of poverty, Racism, and survival. I found the descriptions reminded me of many things that have been part of my life, and drew stark contrast between some of my own experiences as a White New Zealander ( Pākeha ) living in a country with social security. 

I expect that some of this recounting may be affronting to those who are unaware of the type of life that oppressed people can easily fall into. The story is that of someone who has survived, but doesn't really feel as saccharine as a lot of inspiration stories can be. 




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newtons's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0


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essie__reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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apworden's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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drraytay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad

5.0


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emfass's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25


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katrinasherise's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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killerpancake's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5


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