#Juli Min

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Shanghailanders: A Novel

By Juli Min.

[wttnblog]

10 Anticipated May Book Releases: Memoirs, Queer Fiction, Fantasy, and More

It’s May, and that means I’m back with another list of books coming out this month that I am desperate to get my hands on. Unlike usual, there’s a heavy emphasis on memoirs in this list. I’m not sure what it is about the month of May, but everyone’s publishing! Aside from that, we have queer romance, a thriller, fantasy, and so much more. If I missed out on your book coming out this month (or one…

[bloodmaarked]

➫ monthly book round-up: april 2024

books read: 6 [1 DNF] [=] average rating: 3.8 [+23%] average speed: 6.6 days [-37%] total pages: 2,215 [=] yearly goal progress: 22/50 best of the month: the girl with the louding voice, abi daré worst of the month: daughters of nri, reni k. amayo

5* reads:

the girl with the louding voice, abi daré

4.5* reads:

the gifts, liz hyder

4* reads:

the meaning of mariah carey, mariah carey

3* reads:

four eids and a funeral, faridah àbíké-íyímídé + adiba jaigirdar

2.5* reads:

shanghailanders, juli min

DNFs:

daughters of nri, reni k. amayo

currently reading:

black girls must die exhausted, jayne allen

[zombunnys]

back on yuri duty

[antxnous]

the followerrrrr

[merihn]

Tiny Julie painting because I'm trying not to be so perfectionist about painting. Ref and extras under cut

I did this after watching heaps of samdoesarts videos. He has a lot of great tutorials and I just really like his style.

Ended up painting this after trying to draw the picture (from a gif lol) in my sketchbook, then moved to digital when the proportions were extremely off. She def looks more disgruntled in my first sketch than amused.

[stillmevalz]

Trigun Stampede blew my mind with MerylWood. It never ever occured to me in the 8 years I've been in this fandom. They hit me with this

And this

And this

And this

And I just ASSFJFKSKDK

[xxlady-lunaxx]

i hate drawing Tanjiro so have a doodle for his birthday<3

[rabbitfolly]

DBD survivor and killer charms are available on my online shop now!

[twitter | instagram | store | ko-fi]

[loveakii]

succession, miranda july, mary oliver, hanya yanagihara, min yoongi, james baldwin, phoebe bridgers

[pennyellee]

|070224 log|

Hello my beautiful fairies. I see some of you in my inbox asking about new chapters, yada, yada, yada. I’m working overseas and the new chapter of lacrimosa is in beta reading already. It’s not as long as what I’m used to write coz I’m very much time pressured here, working long shifts. I might throw you little sneak peak soonish.

As for the other works, I’m working on them too! Whenever I can ∞ ☼｡𖦹 ° . ⋆♡

i love you all and i’m thankful for every single one of you

hope yall are havin’ great summer chummers

hopefully, see ya soon.

here’s a little sneak peak for ya.

lots of love, p.

[jatp-scrapbook]

drunk singing in the car on the way home from a bar; bobby is very close to kicking them out of the car

[saturnulysses]

dbd lady doodles. requested by twitter 💖

[bloodmaarked]

shanghailanders // juli min

first published: 2024 [to be released 09 may] read: 28 april 2024 – 29 april 2024 pages: 288 format: e-book [ARC]

genres: fiction; literary fiction; family; asian literature favourite character(s): ayi least favourite character(s): most of the characters were forgettable

rating: 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑 thoughts: i don't know about everyone else but i have been hearing about this book left, right and centre. i saw it a while back and wasn't moved to add it to my reading list - it looked like it had an interesting concept, with the story of a family being told in reverse (no time travel involved!), and it had a pretty cover. still, something about it felt like it would just be exceptionally mid. i'm not sure what changed my mind - probably coming across it so frequently - but in the end, i did add it to my list, and shortly after was offered an ARC. well, i sped through it in two days, and it seems shanghailanders entirely lived up to my initial expectations.

as i mentioned, i liked the idea of the story being told in reverse, but i don't think that it really served the narrative. by the end i wasn't entirely sure of the story trying to be told. i didn't feel i had gained much additional context on what happens at the beginning of the novel. the story also feels a little choppy; each chapter is a snapshot of a period in a different character's life, selected without much rhyme or reason. for example, the family's chauffeur has his own chapter, which was pretty cool but also out of place and i don't think he's mentioned anywhere else in the book? another is kiko's chapter, which was odd and i'm just not sure what we were meant to glean about her.

the characters, in general, are not that interesting. there were some really good moments of character dynamic exploration - i liked seeing yumi and yuko (i wish more had come from that, some further resolution or exploration), and eko and neo. but things felt a bit half-baked. i wasn't that drawn to any of the characters, and a book like this relies almost entirely on the strength of its characters. i will say ayi and her chapter was a standout for me, and i was emotionally invested in the short time we spent with her.

overall, this book wasn't objectively bad, but it had the potential to be far stronger than it was. i was mostly apathetic by the last page, but maybe this just wasn't the book for me. massive thanks to Dialogue Books and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!