kaileehaong's reviews
423 reviews

Ma and Me by Putsata Reang

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is hands down one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. As a queer Khmer American myself, Putsata’s story hit home in a way a lot of memoirs haven’t been able to for me. Fantastic interweaving of her life story with her mother/family’s. I will come back to this again and again.

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was certainly nice as a quick read to get me back into the swing of things. The characters are all insufferable, but in a curious way that makes you want to read more and see what else they could possibly do. I saw some reviews discuss some elements being "far-fetched," here and I definitely agree, but despite that I still welcomed the few moments of tenderness that did feel authentic. The through-lines are hopelessness and hope, battling each other for which gets to take prominence. 

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

medium-paced

5.0

This is a knock-out story collection. It’s not often where I like all stories in a collection, but this one is solid. I was so excited to read more of Ling Ma’s work after reading Severance years ago and the wait was worth it. My favorite stories from this collection: Los Angeles, Oranges, Returning, and Office Hours.

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was a bit slow to start, but by god was it fantastic by the end. It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel that truly brings characters off the page and causes you to be fully immersed into the story. Truly fantastic!!

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Another great novel by Celeste Ng. The premise feels relevant to today, haunting, challenging—yet hopeful to inspire a new world. We follow Bird, a young teen (?) for most of the novel, and his mother Margaret for the other parts. Admittedly, a long bit in the middle (his mother’s POV) felt a bit slow, but the pace picked up again once Bird re-entered the picture. Great world and character building.

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen

4.0

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really fun book to read. It plays with form (including letter entries and chat-forum-type entries in addition to the regular narrative switching throughout various POVs. I think what I liked most is that this felt novel, and if you were willing to give into the absurdity of the plot line, then you could really have fun with this book that’s doing a lot more than just poking fun at reality type TV shows (cough cough, The Bachelor).  It was quirky, weird, and entertaining. 

Outlawed by Anna North

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

While this book started off really slow for me (and I almost DNF’d), as soon as I got all the context-setting stuff out of the way, it was really interesting. The concept of a “western” that is also post-apocalyptic is just a really cool idea to begin with, and I think it was executed fairly well. There’s a good mix of character-driven and plot-driven narrative, and it kept me reading until the end. It was enjoyable and out-of-the-box.

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There are definitely elements to like here—strong writing, strong character development, but the protagonist is so insufferable it’s hard to really enjoy everything that’s going on here. Another thing I personally struggled with was the constant jumping back and forth between timelines, sometimes indicated with a paragraph break, sometimes a stylized break, and other times an entirely new chapter. It was occasionally hard to follow. Lastly, I really enjoyed the pace of the novel for the first 2/3. The final third felt really rushed to wrap things up, and they wrapped up too neatly for a character like this one.

I'm Waiting for You: And Other Stories by Kim Bo-young

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I read “I’m Waiting For You,” and “On My Way To You,” and I DNF’d the middle two stories. The unfinished stories were a little more science fiction than I’m used to reading, so I found it hard to follow along and stay with it. The two I read were great, and the reason for my rating. They follow two people, in love and in space, writing letters back and forth that neither of them actually receive about their problems and troubles while apart and their desire to keep waiting for one another. They were such endearing stories told from both points of view and I really enjoyed them.