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coralinejones's Reviews (556)
This was okay.
Very informative, but the information wasn't concise. After a while, the points being made were extremely repetitive and dragged on a bit, kind of like a college lecture that isn't that engaging.
To be honest, I was expecting this book to focus very heavily on how white people view the language that people of color use, and the accents we may have depending on where we are from. I thought this would discuss how we often have to assimilate ourselves to whiteness in order to appear "smart", especially in corporate America. I was expecting more conversations on how POC may appear whitewashed in order to fit in with their white peers. I mean given the title, I can only assume as much.
While these topics were briefly touched on here and there, the book as a whole goes very in depth about the racism and prejudice against Latinx people and is told through personal experiences of the author.
As a black person, a lot of her points I already knew, experienced myself, or saw experienced around me. So, I didn't think everything written was new information or information I personally needed drilled into me.
Those critiques don't make this book bad in any way. I do think there's merit here and it is worth reading. There is a lot to learn and there is new information sewn between the chapters. There are other reviews that critique this book in a way I simply can't, because I don't have all the facts to. Those are also worth reading; either before or after!
Very informative, but the information wasn't concise. After a while, the points being made were extremely repetitive and dragged on a bit, kind of like a college lecture that isn't that engaging.
To be honest, I was expecting this book to focus very heavily on how white people view the language that people of color use, and the accents we may have depending on where we are from. I thought this would discuss how we often have to assimilate ourselves to whiteness in order to appear "smart", especially in corporate America. I was expecting more conversations on how POC may appear whitewashed in order to fit in with their white peers. I mean given the title, I can only assume as much.
While these topics were briefly touched on here and there, the book as a whole goes very in depth about the racism and prejudice against Latinx people and is told through personal experiences of the author.
As a black person, a lot of her points I already knew, experienced myself, or saw experienced around me. So, I didn't think everything written was new information or information I personally needed drilled into me.
Those critiques don't make this book bad in any way. I do think there's merit here and it is worth reading. There is a lot to learn and there is new information sewn between the chapters. There are other reviews that critique this book in a way I simply can't, because I don't have all the facts to. Those are also worth reading; either before or after!
Incredibly sad and disappointed I didn't like this one as much as I had anticipated. 3 stars for the beautiful prose and the entire first part of this novel.
I do see something great in this book, and I completely understand why everyone enjoyed it as much as they did. The prose is genuinely gorgeous and does keep you entertained in this world of grief, violence, famine, etc. I guess, because I'm coming off the high of The Poppy War, I wanted to read something as grand as that trilogy. The very first part of this book, when we meet our protagonist Zhu, had me hooked. I couldn't put the book down and I was growing more and more excited to finish this because I couldn't wait to see her journey from childhood into early adulthood.
I did initially find a lot of similarities between "She Who Became the Sun" and other pre-established works such as Mulan and TPW. I thought this was perfect. Then, suddenly, I was jolted out of my immersion during part 2. This is where my star rating comes into play heavily. I didn't really like Shelley Parker-Chan's storytelling and the pacing that came with the middle part of this book. I thought it became incredibly choppy and all over the place once they introduced other main characters. For example, it was hard to find a connection with Zhu after part one. I struggled to remain engaged in the story and what was going on. I even found it a little hard to figure out what was supposed to be happening. I wanted to DNF this multiple times.
Not to mention a lot of the story actually takes place off screen. A lot of development I thought we should've read about just didn't happen and I guess we were made to infer what happened during those years?!
All-in-all this just wasn't for me. I do hope Shelley Parker-Chan continues writing and publishes something outside of this duology because I would love to continue reading their work; hopefully finding something that sticks with me outside of this novel. As I said, their writing is gorgeous, I just couldn't connect with this specific story.
I do see something great in this book, and I completely understand why everyone enjoyed it as much as they did. The prose is genuinely gorgeous and does keep you entertained in this world of grief, violence, famine, etc. I guess, because I'm coming off the high of The Poppy War, I wanted to read something as grand as that trilogy. The very first part of this book, when we meet our protagonist Zhu, had me hooked. I couldn't put the book down and I was growing more and more excited to finish this because I couldn't wait to see her journey from childhood into early adulthood.
I did initially find a lot of similarities between "She Who Became the Sun" and other pre-established works such as Mulan and TPW. I thought this was perfect. Then, suddenly, I was jolted out of my immersion during part 2. This is where my star rating comes into play heavily. I didn't really like Shelley Parker-Chan's storytelling and the pacing that came with the middle part of this book. I thought it became incredibly choppy and all over the place once they introduced other main characters. For example, it was hard to find a connection with Zhu after part one. I struggled to remain engaged in the story and what was going on. I even found it a little hard to figure out what was supposed to be happening. I wanted to DNF this multiple times.
Not to mention a lot of the story actually takes place off screen. A lot of development I thought we should've read about just didn't happen and I guess we were made to infer what happened during those years?!
All-in-all this just wasn't for me. I do hope Shelley Parker-Chan continues writing and publishes something outside of this duology because I would love to continue reading their work; hopefully finding something that sticks with me outside of this novel. As I said, their writing is gorgeous, I just couldn't connect with this specific story.
not entirely into the plot of this one. i can't put my finger on it but i don't really like the writing style; despite how detailed and lovely some of the paragraphs are. the main character is a little boring and aloof, not worth reading about. at least not right now. not for me.
i'm also not really into "everyone purposefully doesn't say something because the main character isn't supposed to know yet." trope as a means of storytelling (outside of crime and mystery books). that whole element pulled me out the immersion immediately
i'm also not really into "everyone purposefully doesn't say something because the main character isn't supposed to know yet." trope as a means of storytelling (outside of crime and mystery books). that whole element pulled me out the immersion immediately
i don't have anything to say because i'm currently sobbing and dry heaving. hope you understand
oddly enough, this book got boring by chapter 5 despite how interesting the premise is. i enjoyed the symbolism between food, sex, and religion but found the descriptions of these really redundant and low stakes
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I cannot wait to re-read this one day.
What an entertaining mix of Monster House, Nanny McPhee, and Mary Poppins. I wasn't expecting to be so into this book but I couldn't put it down. I'm personally not a huge fan of romance plots (They often feel contrived and corny to me) but the romance in here was done right and didn't take away from the overall plot of magic and fantasy.
People list this as a medium-sized read, but considering how lighthearted and and easy the prose was, I would consider this a fast read. Even with how many pages this book has, being just around average, I do think anyone diving into this novel would love it so much they read it as fast as I did.
What an entertaining mix of Monster House, Nanny McPhee, and Mary Poppins. I wasn't expecting to be so into this book but I couldn't put it down. I'm personally not a huge fan of romance plots (They often feel contrived and corny to me) but the romance in here was done right and didn't take away from the overall plot of magic and fantasy.
People list this as a medium-sized read, but considering how lighthearted and and easy the prose was, I would consider this a fast read. Even with how many pages this book has, being just around average, I do think anyone diving into this novel would love it so much they read it as fast as I did.
Hm.
Very well written. I love V.E Schwab's prose and that's what kept me going until the end. The premise certainly caught my attention and held onto it. Though, as I got closer to the end, I was losing interest, and fast. After a while I didn't care for Henry and I was a little taken aback that so much of the latter half of the novel was in his point of view; twist and all. I was missing the initial drive that I had for Addie's character and I began to feel fatigued with Luc's presence.
There's more I want to say but I'm unsure how to word it right now.
Very well written. I love V.E Schwab's prose and that's what kept me going until the end. The premise certainly caught my attention and held onto it. Though, as I got closer to the end, I was losing interest, and fast. After a while I didn't care for Henry and I was a little taken aback that so much of the latter half of the novel was in his point of view; twist and all. I was missing the initial drive that I had for Addie's character and I began to feel fatigued with Luc's presence.
There's more I want to say but I'm unsure how to word it right now.
Proud of Elliot Page for telling his story. Didn't like the inconsistent storytelling. One paragraph is a story about him being 30 and dealing with gender dysphoria. The very next is about him being a child, hating his step mother, hanging out with childhood friends, etc. His way of storytelling is hard to follow and I didn't like it very much.
