Review by nushie - House of Sticks: A Memoir

nushie 's review for:

4.25

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

it always feels strange to me to give a memoir less than 5 stars. I was mostly thrown early on in the novel that she could remember anything at the age of 3 or 4, especially in such vivid detail. I also felt so sad re: her justification of her father's physical abuse given his expression of love toward the end of the book. It didn't feel just to me, and I really grow frustrated with physical aggression from my parents to children. Despite all this, Ly Tran has a beautiful voice in her work & her writing is simultaneously matter-of-fact and incredibly poignant. Her writing style alone is worth 4+ stars regardless of the details of her memoir at certain ages or whether I agree on how she should cope with what.

Content Warnings