Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

19 reviews

seasonofreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility and Cancer

Moderate: Abandonment

liv_txt's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Mental illness, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Rape, Car accident, Cancer, Alcohol, and Abandonment

officialdani's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Certain parts of the book felt like they dragged on too much, leaving me feeling bored and not wanting to continue reading. But the parts that were interesting really kept me engaged. The book explores so many aspects of womanhood, sexuality, motherhood, poverty, societal expectations, etc. it’s introspective and reflective making for a great, thought provoking read. I recommend powering through the rougher parts of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, and Infertility

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Abandonment, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Rape, and Bullying

micamicami's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Infertility, Pedophilia, Classism, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Rape

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Infertility

Moderate: Cancer, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Grief, Terminal illness, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Eating disorder, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Incest, Body shaming, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Death

provo's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

It took me over a year to read this book. It is incredibly slow but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. We follow an asexual cis woman who tries to figure out if and how to have a child. There is a lot of backdrop of japanese society’s expectations of women and motherhood, it also deals with poverty and growing up without a father. 
I found a lot of the thoughts very interesting, though as an European non-binary person with no wish for children i could only relate so far. 
What I really liked was how many different (heterosexual cis) women with very diverse views on womanhood and motherhood were represented. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Acephobia/Arophobia, Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Pedophilia

nabila99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

a beautifully written, insightful, melancholy exploration of patriarchy, womanhood, motherhood, loneliness, and career stagnation. much of this book was just long conversations that the main characters have with other people and themselves, and they feel so real. their problems are ours, our mothers' and sisters', our friends' and acquaintances'. even though there is no "plot" to speak of, i flew through the chapters and was excited to be in natsuko's head again every time i put it down.

virtually the only issue i have with this book, and the reason i took off half a star, is that although i really enjoyed the second half and all of natsuko's musings about asexuality, single motherhood and her future, i did feel the absence of makiko and midoriko. it would have been nice to see their development also, where they were in their journeys. 

nevertheless, kawakami's writing and characterisation are stunning, and i can't wait to read more of her work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Medical content, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexism, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual content, Cancer, Death, and Body shaming

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infertility

theportalmaster's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this story. The beginning was so captivating and made me put the other book I was reading on hold to pick this one up. I liked Kawakami’s writing and the topics she choose to bring up here; birth/found family, friends, the choice to have children, sex, relationships, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Cancer, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Death, and Pregnancy

ciancitt's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

The beginning was slow, but it delivered. There is so much packed into such a simple story. It take a deep dive into life and mind of a cis woman, questioning sexuality, family and ultimately what it takes to find a place in society. I loved the characters, how unique and unapologetic they were, and how they each contributed to the discussion. Overall, I think this book just leaves readers with much to think about, and it shakes the foundations of the current social norms.

The "optimistic" ending was unexpected.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Rape, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment