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kappafrog's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book just didn't do it for me. Even though the book is written in first person, something about its style made me feel disconnected from the characters, especially Benson and Mitsuko. I almost gave up in Benson's portion because I found Benson such a blah character and the relationship that drove the novel seemed to have nothing going for it. Once we switched to Mike's perspective though, things picked up. I was surprised to find Mike such a sympathetic character after my apathy towards both him and Benson in the first section. Even Benson became more likeable from Mike's perspective some of the time (though at other times he was really awful).
Unusually for a book, the final section was definitely the best. So often authors lose steam at that point, but here I thought that Washington got me to care way more than I had about Benson and his father, while still keeping up the emotional momentum on Mike. Before the final section, I had spent most of my time reading resigned to finishing but with no enthusiasm for the book or its characters. The end brought together a lot of the threads of the book. Even though the ending isopen-ended, I still felt satisfied with it.
I have some other issues with the book though. A lot of the characters don't feel like real people in the way they talked - particularly the women, Ximena, Lydia and Mitsuko. They dispensed cryptic wisdom or made pithy remarks but never felt like real people. What I've seen described as the book's "staccato" pace meant that there were way too many emotional punchlines. So many passages tried to be profound in an understated way that I just got bored.
And finally, I don't think that Eiju's domestic abuse of Mitsuko was reckoned with enough (or for that matter, Mike and Benson's domestic abuse of each other). But it felt especially annoying in such a male-focused book that so much of the book's emotional core is about a reconciliation between a boy and the father who beat his mother, in which said father never once apologizes for that abuse, and a twist is made to make us think for a second that Mitsuko was the bad guy all along. The book's best emotional bits were about Eiju and Mike, but I never felt like Mitsuko got her emotional due even though the book ended with a focus on her.
Unusually for a book, the final section was definitely the best. So often authors lose steam at that point, but here I thought that Washington got me to care way more than I had about Benson and his father, while still keeping up the emotional momentum on Mike. Before the final section, I had spent most of my time reading resigned to finishing but with no enthusiasm for the book or its characters. The end brought together a lot of the threads of the book. Even though the ending is
I have some other issues with the book though. A lot of the characters don't feel like real people in the way they talked - particularly the women, Ximena, Lydia and Mitsuko. They dispensed cryptic wisdom or made pithy remarks but never felt like real people. What I've seen described as the book's "staccato" pace meant that there were way too many emotional punchlines. So many passages tried to be profound in an understated way that I just got bored.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury