Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

5 reviews

amalas_bookstop's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

This book had so much more than I was expecting! Meet Lilly she is just one branch of this dysfunctional Chinese American family that is full of secrets. In this book you will find commentary of what does it mean to be an American and if you could change things, would you?

This is a 600 page literary fiction, she really gives time for each family member to tell their journey and for reader to understand how their story contributes to the family whole.

This book also has a touch of magical realism (Chinese fable come to life) and a science fiction (or is it?). This ended being the perfect book to read for the holidays.
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qupcns's review against another edition

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4.0

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gwenswoons's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is really excellent — I read a comp that suggested this is for readers of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but I think Pachinko is a more accurate comp for me. It has a similar grandly-sweeping time span, with deep and devastating insights about history and humanity through the lens of more closely personal and interpersonal moments.

I struggled a bit with the back third — the pacing of it overall and the use of the second person made it slower for me, and somehow it felt more practical: it landed more like the way the book needed to wrap up structurally than what needed to take place by emotional necessity. Ultimately it didn’t hit as deeply and personally as I wished, though as I said it’s totally excellent; I longed for more catharsis, more emotional outpouring perhaps, but that is also not the affect of the book or of the storytellers inside it.

Definitely recommend — I am curious about Goodbye, Vitamin now, though it make take me a while to get to Khong’s backlist. I’ll for sure take note of her future novels, if not immediately dive into them.
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emily_koopmann's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

2.75

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sakisreads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Okay I absolutely ADORED this book 🥹 It was long, so I put it down for an extended amount of time, but once I picked it up again I could not put it down.

Lily/Nick/Mei’s narratives all being part of the book really satisfied me, because I kept getting upset at not being able to understand what had fully gone on. Lily’s refusal to address what happened between her and Matt was increasingly frustrating 😫
Although if your parents had utilised you two as experiments, without you knowing, that would be reasonable cause for never speaking to someone again 🫠

It had me screaming and crying. 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨ Content warnings below!
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