Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure

9 reviews

booksillremember's review

emotional funny informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

I enjoy books that draw me into everyday life in a different culture and I have a soft spot for in-between characters who belong neither here nor there. The characters are complex and their actions make sense given their past. I've seen a lot of criticism of them not being likeable, I think they are in some ways and not in others, they are just flawed. I rarely see this type of criticism of the likeability of characters brought up towards male authors. Some of the most prestigious novels ever have very unlikeable characters.

Minor negative: I found the interactions and the spelling out of "the moral of the story" a bit repetitive and the ending felt like everything fell into place too neatly. 

I appreciate how the rape scene was portrayed and handled. This kind of "non-violent" rape (in quotation marks because the act itself is violence) and what it does to the victim deserves more representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Alcoholism, and Suicide

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Self harm

jo_d's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The characters are so real, so human. A young teenage girl acts like a young teenage girl and it is heartbreaking and beautiful. 
I liked it. It's not a story on morality, or how to act properly, it's a story of three interesting people tied into a dysfunctional family. They're all liars and hurting and imperfect and don't often say the right thing and it's honest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, War, Suicide, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Abortion

kwahl's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction

amy_park's review against another edition

hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Read this via audio and I enjoyed it. A dual perspective novel of a coming of age, teenage American Chinese girl and her Chinese stepdad living in Shanghai. Many themes were explored in this book, I.e identity, hope, West vs East culture, "American dream", ambition vs reality etc. An interesting look on immigration and culture. 
Some may argue this book explores too many themes, which I agree slightly. I think this book packs alot in, with many areas brushed upon and not explored as much as I would like.
I enjoyed the Alva sections more but did like to hear the backstory of Lu Fang, but towards the end his sections were rushed alot, as I think the author wanted to include alot of the history in China in these sections, but didn't pay off due to length
This book has alot of content warnings, so would suggest a review if dark themes trigger.  Overall would recommend (especially audio).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Self harm, Drug use, and Death

bonkyboot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, Rape, Death, and Self harm

baileyanabella's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Not a bad book, just not really my favorite type of story. This is a portrait of two characters lives, a deep look at the intricacies of their personalities. But I didn't find them particularly interesting or relatable characters, so this unfortunately just didn't hit for me. The setting was interesting and not one I've seen much of before so I did have fun with that and it kept me intrigued when the story didn't. Overall just left me feeling sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Animal death

kaddictwithapen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Toxic friendship, Racism, Self harm, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, War, and Violence

bridget_h's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

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

3.25

I thought the writing and structure of this book was great. However, the three main characters were all so one sided and there really wasn't anyone else to balance things out. It got tired at some point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Self harm

veeteegee's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a book that took a little while to fully grasp my attention, but I found one it did, it wasn’t released until its conclusion. The dual perspectives of Alva and Lu Fang offered a gift in providing two very different tales of longing, disappointments, triumphs, and everything in between set in two very different Chinas with a shared goal of escaping the  norm or the standard route in their own ways. I find myself curious about where their respective stories would continue to converge and divert from one another, especially in relation to their shared link to Sloan. It was definitely not a happy story, but in the sadness Aube Rey Lescure created a tale that was beautiful in its heartbreaks too.  

I am immensely grateful to the publisher for the receipt of this advanced reader’s copy of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Self harm

Minor: Xenophobia, Violence, and War