A review by cherreadssharereads
Straw Dogs of the Universe by Ye Chun

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

I like the way Chun writes; looking forward to picking up HAO. I like the history embedded into this story of a woman longing for home. I absolutely abhor the history of Chinese laborers in Truckee and Northern California especially bc there are so many Chinese here now and there are very few mentions of all the discrimination they faced when tasked with doing all the menial labor all the while getting killed, raped, and being recipients of hate-crimes!!!! Pacing at the beginning could have been tightened up a bit. I didn’t care for all the mention of Dao and wuwai — I didn’t feel the connection there. I didn’t like that several scenes were revisited multiple times but by different POVs…I feel like that slows down the story significantly and I do not need 3 (albeit, different) regurgitations of the same scene; one or 2 less POVs would have been nice.