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avie_1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Deportation, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Death, Blood, and Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent
empathreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, and Death of parent
wayfarer_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Confinement
Minor: Sexual violence
chloemaerossi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Abandonment
sassyshark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Confinement and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Eating disorder, Gore, and Medical content
theayeaye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One caveat for potential readers, I think this book is better understood less as a novel and more of a meditation on some themes through a story. Go into this book with the same mindset as taking in a painting at a museum.
Ogawa's writing style (and Stephen Snyder's translation) is remarkably understated and accomplishes a really interesting technique to show the narrator's emotions and feelings in her actions while keeping some aspects hidden.
I also really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the main story with the text of the narrator's novel. I think it added a great deal to the book to see how she works through her experiences by writing about them.
I found the writing a really thought provoking meditation loss and grief, and the things we lose without noticing, and the things we lose and notice very deeply.
The build-up of sadness and grief grows and grows until the book's ending. (Spoilers ahead for the curious but I don't think it would ruin the book to know how it ends.)
Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Abandonment
angeld's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Moderate: Sexual assault and Abandonment
darbo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The book has a slow start, and it may feel slow all throughout for some due to its mundane, everyday tasks, but it picks up eventually and just leaves you baffled and shocked at every turn. Especially so the ending. I truly love this and wholeheartedly recommend this to any dystopia and Orwell fans out there.
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Death