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jmcampbell57's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Mental illness, Drug use, Body horror, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Minor: Blood and Alcoholism
foreverinastory's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was something else. If you really do not like snakes, don't read this one. There's lots of snakes especially cobras and other venomous ones. And a snake nose man--inserts a snake in his nose. It was very gross.
Rep: Biracial Vietnamese-American cishet female MC, cishet Vietnamese cast.
CWs: Blood, body horror (including swapping bodies and possession), drug use/abuse, death, murder, animal cruelty (capturing snakes to take venom, attempted dog kidnapping to take to a restaurant), gore, injury/injury detail, sexual assault, sexual content, sexual violence, snakes, suicide, toxic friendship, violence, xenophobia. Moderate: Misogyny, incest, rape, attempted necrophilia, colonisation, sexism. Minor: eating disorder, cursing, racism, war.
Rep: Biracial Vietnamese-American cishet female MC, cishet Vietnamese cast.
CWs: Blood, body horror (including swapping bodies and possession), drug use/abuse, death, murder, animal cruelty (capturing snakes to take venom, attempted dog kidnapping to take to a restaurant), gore, injury/injury detail, sexual assault, sexual content, sexual violence, snakes, suicide, toxic friendship, violence, xenophobia. Moderate: Misogyny, incest, rape, attempted necrophilia, colonisation, sexism. Minor: eating disorder, cursing, racism, war.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Gore, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Xenophobia, Body horror, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, and Colonisation
Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, Racism, and War
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
4.0
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต.
In 1986, a teenage girl gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation, and is forever changed. 25 years later, an unhappy Vietnamese-American woman vanishes without a trace.
This book was fantastic. I read it a few months back, and have just been sitting with my feelings on it. Not quite being sure how to articulate them, but it's well deserved Women's Prize nomination felt like the perfect time to try. Build Your House Around My Body does so much. It is vast and winding and absolutely brilliant.
Part of the fun is going on this journey not knowing how it's all connected, just going with the flow of it, and getting that giddy feeling when a character from a past chapter pops into one of the other story lines. I loved how these characters were hidden throughout the narrative, how in one they'd be named and others just referred to as 'the medium' or 'the policeman', it made putting two and two together even more rewarding.
The only reason this wasn't a 4 star read, is because it took me a lot of time and brain power. Don't get me wrong I loved this, but it didn't have that effortless reading sparkle that makes me give a book 5 stars, but it came pretty damn close. It was empowering, and dark and chock-full of dry humour. Plus the ending, and how it all came together was brilliant. If you've been thinking about reading this, here's your push to do it, I very much doubt you'll regret it.
In 1986, a teenage girl gets lost in an abandoned rubber plantation, and is forever changed. 25 years later, an unhappy Vietnamese-American woman vanishes without a trace.
This book was fantastic. I read it a few months back, and have just been sitting with my feelings on it. Not quite being sure how to articulate them, but it's well deserved Women's Prize nomination felt like the perfect time to try. Build Your House Around My Body does so much. It is vast and winding and absolutely brilliant.
Part of the fun is going on this journey not knowing how it's all connected, just going with the flow of it, and getting that giddy feeling when a character from a past chapter pops into one of the other story lines. I loved how these characters were hidden throughout the narrative, how in one they'd be named and others just referred to as 'the medium' or 'the policeman', it made putting two and two together even more rewarding.
The only reason this wasn't a 4 star read, is because it took me a lot of time and brain power. Don't get me wrong I loved this, but it didn't have that effortless reading sparkle that makes me give a book 5 stars, but it came pretty damn close. It was empowering, and dark and chock-full of dry humour. Plus the ending, and how it all came together was brilliant. If you've been thinking about reading this, here's your push to do it, I very much doubt you'll regret it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
baekchen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I honestly don't know where to begin with all the praise I have for this absolutely stunning debut.
Everything in Build Your House Around My Body is deeply lush and alive, but most of all haunted; the land, the animals, the people, their homes. Violet Kupersmith brings the Vietnam of past and present to life with such vivid and magical imagery, it felt like I was right in the middle of it allโright there with Winnie and Binh, through everything they experienced to the final resolutions of their stories. I loved them both so incredibly much, they're so deeply flawed and felt so tangible, Binh so fiery and Winnie so ghostly. Really, I loved all the women in this book with all my heart, and I hated most, if not all, male characters with such a passion.. I wanted them all to perish! They filled me with so much rage!
All the different timelines and povs fit right where they were and made sense in the flow of the story. They're interwoven so skilfully and seamlessly, and it was so incredibly satisfying and rewarding seeing it all click into place while reading.side note: I love how there is so much braiding in the book when the book itself is one big plait with all of the strands of the story coming together. That just feels so right. It is a slow burn and pretty dark, but it is also gripping and entertaining, and that ending was so cathartic and lovely.
In other words, I loved this so so so much! It's only January, but I can still confidently say this will be one of my favourites of the year (and of all time), and I want and need everyone to read it!!
I think this is the perfect book for you if you like stories about women freeing themselves and each other told with beautiful, descriptive prose, a big serving of ghosts, revenge, folklore, snakes, and a side of history and nature.
Everything in Build Your House Around My Body is deeply lush and alive, but most of all haunted; the land, the animals, the people, their homes. Violet Kupersmith brings the Vietnam of past and present to life with such vivid and magical imagery, it felt like I was right in the middle of it allโright there with Winnie and Binh, through everything they experienced to the final resolutions of their stories. I loved them both so incredibly much, they're so deeply flawed and felt so tangible, Binh so fiery and Winnie so ghostly. Really, I loved all the women in this book with all my heart, and I hated most, if not all, male characters with such a passion.. I wanted them all to perish! They filled me with so much rage!
All the different timelines and povs fit right where they were and made sense in the flow of the story. They're interwoven so skilfully and seamlessly, and it was so incredibly satisfying and rewarding seeing it all click into place while reading.
In other words, I loved this so so so much! It's only January, but I can still confidently say this will be one of my favourites of the year (and of all time), and I want and need everyone to read it!!
I think this is the perfect book for you if you like stories about women freeing themselves and each other told with beautiful, descriptive prose, a big serving of ghosts, revenge, folklore, snakes, and a side of history and nature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Drug abuse
Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Rape
Minor: Eating disorder
dauphine's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Sexual assault and Incest
Minor: Eating disorder
regal_leaves's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith is a a creepy, fever dream of a novel about two young women who go missing decades apart, both are fearless and lost. And they will both have their revenge.
Right off the bat โ this book is like nothing Iโve read before and in all honestly I donโt know how to describe the experience of reading it. Thereโs magical realism, ghosts, two headed serpents and so much more that will have you on the edge of your seat while reading.
For the most part weโre trying to piece together Winnieโs story as we learn of her disappearance in the first chapter. There are a handful of intertwined timelines that all drop breadcrumbs of information, building to build a complex puzzle of anguish and horror set over several decades.
- READ FULL REVIEW AT https://wp.me/pbWTXv-74 -
- READ FULL REVIEW AT https://wp.me/pbWTXv-74 -
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, and Sexism
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