verinvaldez's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This isn't really a novel, it's more of a collection of disjointed stories that take place in the same coffee shop.
There's definitely sexist undertones, just read this quote:
There's definitely sexist undertones, just read this quote:
'Don't go!' she would have screamed. Of course, they would have been crocodile tears. Tears are a woman's weapon.
Outside of that, the prose is very basic and wooden, I expected more depth. The characters felt mostly one-dimensional and the stories are bogged down by copy-pasted explanations of things such as Alzheimer's disease, rather than being integrated well into the story.
The last story did end up being emotional at least, but I only finished this book because it was so short and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Deeply disappointing, there are better written books about grief, but I guess the book was readable.
Note: Cat on the cover, but no cat in the story. Another layer of disappointment.
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Grief
Moderate: Death and Pregnancy
jackiie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Sexism, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Car accident and Pregnancy
cady_sass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I purposefully waited until the hype died down to read this one because I had a feeling it wouldn’t do it for me, and I was right. For whatever reason Japanese translations and I don’t get along and this is no different. I LOVE this concept, and the first chapter was riveting and had me thinking I might have a 5 star read in front of me. But the stories after that were a bit… mediocre. And I find most of them to lean sexist, especially the last one. I’m almost treating this like an anthology, the first story is 5 stars, the second and 3rd are 2-3ish, and the last one is a 1 for me. So that lands us right around a 3. I think there’s a lot of wasted potential here and I’m really disappointed.
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Car accident, Grief, and Medical trauma
priya_can_read's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny
grace_lola14's review against another edition
lots of clunky casual misogyny and objectification of women in the prose. it was winding me up, so i had to drop it
Minor: Misogyny
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