One of my favorite reads. A beautiful story of hurt and generational trauma as well as rising above it. I enjoyed the little supernatural elements alongside this very real story.

This is definitely a little bit of a hard read for anyone who is sensitive to mentions of violence. However I would recommend this book to everyone I know, especially people who struggle to connect with the hurt inflicted upon them.

I have few criticisms to make. Sometimes I felt like one perspective of a story was more interesting than the other and being pulled out from one part of the story into another one sometimes left me feeling slightly disoriented (although I do think this was mostly intended).

Over all this book felt similar to "The Flashlight" by Susan Choi. I love both books but "A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing" is a little better executed in my opinion. But I do recommend reading both, especially if one already read and liked one of the two books.

SPOILER WARNING

In the last 20 or 30 pages, I really wished for some kind of revenge against the oni because I felt that was the only way to really get justice for all that happened. But ultimately, the realization of having agency in changing one's own fate felt much more powerful.