Scan barcode
lunabean's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
suzz's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
kmmi_booklover's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thegracexu's review against another edition
3.5
Solid story with beautiful lyrical writing, but not a showstopper and I didn’t like the ending
hiitsmecassie's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 but rounded to 5 i thought this book was sooo good and idk if this counts as a spoiler like i won’t say what happens but i don’t want people to see this and then know something huge happens in the literal final pages of the book that DEVASTATED me so i’ll put it as a spoiler
meghan_plethoraofpages's review
5.0
Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng
A beautifully written story poetically exploring many themes including family, heritage, immigration, music, and love. Impacts both immediate and lasting of the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960s & 70s on the characters are shown. Differing experiences with moving from China to the US are explored. On the surface, the story is about a family - daughter Junie, parents Cassia & Momo who are both now in the US. Momo wants nothing more than to reunite his family in time for his daughter’s 12th birthday, but Junie has been raised largely by her grandparents in China and has no desire to leave her home.
There are some books I’ve read that sort of leave me feeling a bit discombobulated and a distinct lack of elegance in the face of so much imagery, lyricism and meaning. This is one of those books. It’s a debut novel, although the author is a published U of T professor; it’s so well done, it’s the kind of book that keeps me seeking out debuts.
The story mostly focuses on parents Momo and Cassia; we go from present and back to their origin story as a couple, and their upbringing. There isn’t as much Junie as I was hoping for. We are given the skeleton of her story and sort of piece it together. There is also a surprising twist to the end that felt.. disjointed. These are minor notes from a humble reader; the book is a work of art!
For fans of literary fiction with a historical component, rich character studies and slower-paced thoughtful writing with no wasted words - a must read new release.
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and to Netgalley for free access to an e-copy of this wonderful book. It’s out now! All opinions are my own.
A beautifully written story poetically exploring many themes including family, heritage, immigration, music, and love. Impacts both immediate and lasting of the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960s & 70s on the characters are shown. Differing experiences with moving from China to the US are explored. On the surface, the story is about a family - daughter Junie, parents Cassia & Momo who are both now in the US. Momo wants nothing more than to reunite his family in time for his daughter’s 12th birthday, but Junie has been raised largely by her grandparents in China and has no desire to leave her home.
There are some books I’ve read that sort of leave me feeling a bit discombobulated and a distinct lack of elegance in the face of so much imagery, lyricism and meaning. This is one of those books. It’s a debut novel, although the author is a published U of T professor; it’s so well done, it’s the kind of book that keeps me seeking out debuts.
The story mostly focuses on parents Momo and Cassia; we go from present and back to their origin story as a couple, and their upbringing. There isn’t as much Junie as I was hoping for. We are given the skeleton of her story and sort of piece it together. There is also a surprising twist to the end that felt.. disjointed. These are minor notes from a humble reader; the book is a work of art!
For fans of literary fiction with a historical component, rich character studies and slower-paced thoughtful writing with no wasted words - a must read new release.
Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada and to Netgalley for free access to an e-copy of this wonderful book. It’s out now! All opinions are my own.
radio_4's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
knod78's review against another edition
3.0
Hmmmm to the ending, is all I have to say. I give this book 3.5 stars.
I won this book on the Goodreads giveaway. I really did like the book, but I also felt like I was missing something, like I'm hearing the account of this story third hand. There just seemed to be details missing for such a short book with lots of characters and the author spent too much time on other unimportant characters to full develop any of the main ones. I loved reading about what Chinese people went through (especially the art ones) during the cultural revolution and during the one baby household. I loved the description of Trout River and I felt like Momo's parents were wonderful. I wanted them as parents.
However, the ending??? WTF? I mean is that Dawn or Viridiana come to visit Junie or someone else? And speaking of Dawn, what was the point of her character seriously? I get the initial character plot of her and Momo, because she gave him classical music and the violin, which sets up Momo. But then, it said he never heard from her again. I expected to drop her character from the story all together. Yet, we got her story throughout the book. Though for what purpose? I didn't see how her story was essential to the plot unless she was the stranger at the end. Then, that poses another question if she was, how did she know about Junie? I mean Viridiana knew about the kid sort of, but Momo was a stranger to her. I just didn't get it. I thought Junie would be the main core of this story since the title reflected what she said to her grandpa, but she really wasn't.
All in all, I liked the book, but I didn't love it mainly because the ending and I felt like we wasted too much time on Dawn's character, characters that popped up in America and not enough time on Junie or Momo or Cassia. Very rushed ending too.
I won this book on the Goodreads giveaway. I really did like the book, but I also felt like I was missing something, like I'm hearing the account of this story third hand. There just seemed to be details missing for such a short book with lots of characters and the author spent too much time on other unimportant characters to full develop any of the main ones. I loved reading about what Chinese people went through (especially the art ones) during the cultural revolution and during the one baby household. I loved the description of Trout River and I felt like Momo's parents were wonderful. I wanted them as parents.
However, the ending??? WTF? I mean is that Dawn or Viridiana come to visit Junie or someone else? And speaking of Dawn, what was the point of her character seriously? I get the initial character plot of her and Momo, because she gave him classical music and the violin, which sets up Momo. But then, it said he never heard from her again. I expected to drop her character from the story all together. Yet, we got her story throughout the book. Though for what purpose? I didn't see how her story was essential to the plot unless she was the stranger at the end. Then, that poses another question if she was, how did she know about Junie? I mean Viridiana knew about the kid sort of, but Momo was a stranger to her. I just didn't get it. I thought Junie would be the main core of this story since the title reflected what she said to her grandpa, but she really wasn't.
All in all, I liked the book, but I didn't love it mainly because the ending and I felt like we wasted too much time on Dawn's character, characters that popped up in America and not enough time on Junie or Momo or Cassia. Very rushed ending too.
tirzah_d's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.75