gaylic's Reviews (728)

I gave this book 5 stars not necessarily because it was the best book I’ve read all year but because it was just so rich in detail about the experience of Chinese immigrants in London post World War I and the ironic dichotomy of collecting and praising their cultural significance in art and food, while simultaneously degrading even the most upstanding Chinese citizens. The racism could feel heavy handed at times, but that felt fitting considering the setting, and appropriate to point out when we so often ignore the racism against Asian and Pacific Islanders in the West.

I agree with other reviews on there being a great deal of fighting in this book, but I found it fascinating rather than dull. I’ve never practiced any martial art so I found myself looking up the moves the author wrote in to be able to picture them and it ended up teaching me a great deal more than any fight scenes I’ve ever read in any other book! I loved the awe people had of Dee in how gracefully he moved and I found the banter that the characters often partook in afterwards to help lighten the mood afterwards and get it back on track to the witty murder mystery I initially signed up for.

The relationship between Hoong, Dee, and Lao was what really made this book for me and the way that they all helped each other grow into more understanding and loving people. They didn’t change who they were at their core, but instead learned how to see things from alternate perspectives, and rethougt how they were approaching one another in the process. It was a wonderful dynamic and I truly hope for more stories following this trio in the future.

I haven’t read the original Judge Dee series and while I can see the heavy Sherlock Holmes influences, I found the meta reference to this in the book extremely helpful for cutting my ties to the stories that inspired this. Pointing out our tendency to say “the Chinese Sherlock Holmes” instead of honoring the story for what it is was brilliant in my opinion, though I can see where it feels like a spoon fed message to others.

Overall I just had a lot of fun reading this book and it’s been a while since a book has just felt fun. Realistically it may be more 4.5 rounded up, but that’s still a solid endorsement to give it a try if you love period piece who done its.

I waffled between 4 and 5 stars for this book because the writing is honestly makes this one of the best and most compelling pieces I’ve read in a long while and one of the only books to make me both laugh out loud and openly cry over the course of the story. Nora is a highly relatable character to anyone who has ever suffered from suicidal ideation and deep depression that makes you feel stuck and her journey hits close because of it.

However, the last half of the book, while still highly enjoyable and beautiful to read, does start to become more of the tone of self-help books as others have mentioned, and some of the messages could have been given in less of a straight forward way while still having the same impact. The fact that Nora had to learn that she just needed to want her life and to live badly enough to escape the library was obvious about two lives in and some of the meandering she does to get to that realization made it feel like the book was going for a higher page count rather than actually adding to the story. This comes down to poor editing rather than poor writing, though, and so I would still highly recommend this book just for the witty and heartfelt prose alone.

This wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t fun either. I found myself wanting to DNF about halfway through, but I’m stubborn about finishing books. The story was interesting enough to push through to the end, but the outcome was predictable and the characters never really grew throughout the story. As many have said, it suffers from being told from too many perspectives, and I could never figure out why she chose to write certain characters in first person and others in third. There wasn’t any logical reasoning for any of the switches and I wish it had either been a steady thread connecting it. I thought at first it was first person for the most unreliable narrators and third for the fact givers but that was shot to hell several times. It would have been better to pick one perspective or at most have third person for everyone else and first person for the aunt and daughter.

Disappointing, but a good enough read if you can get over the style. Probably won’t read anything else from this author since I didn’t jive with it though.

Rounded down from 4.5.

This book was fascinating and well paced, which I find rare in murder mysteries most of the time. I loved the rate and method of revealing new information through the grandmother’s diary, and also the reveal that came from the result of relying too heavily on a source of information that is naturally limited and unreliable. The ending wasn’t shocking, but I don’t think a good murder mystery should be. It means it left the right amount of clues and information to make the reveal make sense, since you solve it alongside the characters.

The only reason I’m rounding down to 4 instead of up to 5 stars is that some of the side issues felt unnecessary, like the secret keeping the farm afloat. There are realistic red herrings to help keep it an interesting investigation, but that one and a few others felt more shoe horned in and didn’t help the flow of the story the way others did.

But the characters are wonderful and the plot is compelling so I definitely am looking forward to the next installment.

As an art historian who is not getting full use from my degree, this book was carthartic as it comes. The writing is wonderful and the twists and turns are amazing. I wish I had had more of a heads up about the sexual harassment/assault in the book before reading, but it wasn’t so graphic that I couldn’t keep going. The main characters are wonderfully dynamic, the husband is kind of bland and typical but I got the impression that was on purpose. The ending was a little too vague for my liking, which is why I’m going with 4 instead of 5 stars, but overall this book was very enjoyable.

This book isn’t as well written as Mexican Gothic and sometimes I fet like I was reading a fanfic instead of a novel with the quality. But it was cute and halfway through the plot actually gets strong, so I’m glad I kept with it!

This book is far superior to Mexican Gothic in terms of writing quality honestly. Of the two example novels they give, I would definitely relate it more on par to Rebecca. It read like poetry at times and the haunting images the author paints stick with you. The characters had so much depth and I loved the arc of the story overall. I was not expecting the sexual abuse aspects in it, so please go in with some caution. They’re only discussed, not written out from what I remembered, but it can still be shocking for people. It gave motive and was a strong way to showcase the villainy in this particular story though so I wasn’t unhappy with it being in the story overall.

Satisfying ending, very Hitchcock-esque in its slow unraveling. I loved this novel a lot and would highly recommend it to supernatural horror/thriller fans.