Reviews tagging 'Death'

Certaines n'avaient jamais vu la mer by Julie Otsuka

16 reviews

missmoth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and War

k_pelowk's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Goodness gracious, this book is so beautiful. I just finished it and think I may pick it up and read it again right away.  Like a poem, rhythm, word choice and simplicity build effortless images and character sketches. It broadened my understanding of my American History and heritage. I loved every moment, even the frequent painful ones. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Most are very brief as the book is a series of vignettes.

goldenflame852's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide

balfies's review against another edition

challenging informative sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Beautiful little book about Japanese immigrants to America in the first half of the twentieth century, told from the collective perspective of the women. Otsuka is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers, she has such a unique voice and her storytelling collages are so deftly constructed.

One of the chapters appeared as a short story in a 2011 edition of Granta magazine, and I had used it as one of my HSC Belonging texts, so it's good to have finally read the full thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

bookish_wanderer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death and Rape

fearsome_to_behold's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death and Racism

Minor: War

melinum's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Abortion

jaqylantern's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

the point of view for this book was SO effective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

mekrasts's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book covers the experiences of women who are transported from Japan to America in order to get married, and follows them in their journeys of change all the way to World War II. It is written in such a way that seems to be in the first person, but describes experiences from all of the women at once. It is mostly a sad story, about loss and longing, but it doesn't lack hopefulness and contentment. I think the main thing that I took away from it is that change is hard, and that the only thing you can do in the face of it is adapt. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War