Reviews with content warning for Grief - Heaven

Heaven started out really slow for me, then around the midway point I learned enough about the characters' perspectives to see their motives and belief structures. I loved the second half. Does our pain matter? If everything matters, then does anything matter and vice versa? If I move on from my pain, can I still be the person forged from it? This story is saturated in a daze of melancholy and pain. It is beautiful.

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cecereads__'s review against another edition

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3.5

Hmm. - I know that’s not a good sign to start that way, but I feel sort of conflicted (not that reviewing sth is that big a deal, I just want to do it justice if that makes sense). I had been looking forward to reading this while knowing that it had been described as a tough read. To say the least, imo. There’s a sort of nonchalant, reasoning/rationale to the writing. A detachment if you will. And it’s written in first person which says a lot about how this boy is attempting to distance himself from what is happening to him but also how his emotional state has been neglected and damaged by everything that has happened to him. There is no real “connection” to other ppl until he meets Kojima (which is what made me want to continue reading).
It’s important to be prepared as a reader for the disturbing bullying (violence) that is happening - especially bc of the way that is is endless and speaks volumes on neglect in general.

when he speaks to Momose and his pov is that “nothing matters” and that he doesn’t care when it is “unrelated” to him is so heartbreakingly true in the sense that some ppl are just not able to emotionally and empathetically understand that words and actions have consequences. That we can never see eye to eye with everyone even when it comes to things that are incredibly reasonable to some of us that you don’t treat others as they do in this book.

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ardour's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

4.25

i thought this was gonna be a 5 star read for most of the book, but then it got sad and i realised i’ve never been one to enjoy a sad book/film etc. Literally no fault of the book i still thought it was fantastic, I love books that are dark but not so much *sad*. I thought the writing was brilliant, especially how it was so flawlessly written in a teenager’s voice.

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