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abril6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Rape, and Death
meg_reads83's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Rape, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Misogyny
reading_crow's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Sexual content and Misogyny
annahollamby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Grief, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, and Emotional abuse
fiona_sch's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual assault and Suicide
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer
emmaanoble's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape and Death of parent
Minor: Lesbophobia
nesilla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, and Misogyny
soyboysimon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This one is much less bad. The misogyny is still there, but it feels more like its on purpose because of the nature of the main character. And its not like every woman he meets is just a pair of breasts with legs this time. Because I was expecting it, it was less of a problem for me.
It sure doesn't sound like I'm describing a good book, does it? Let me tell you what this book got right! Unlike his other works, there is no magic in this book. The writing is whats magical about it. It has that japanese way of storytelling, much like a Studio Ghibli movie, where you're following a character through their daily life, living the slow moments with them.
The main character grapples with the dilemma of loving more than one person at a time and having to choose and wondering if he's making the right choice. And you really feel his love for both women and get to see such tender but different moments between them and could see him being happy either way. And its told from the perspective of him looking back on his life and wondering if theres anything he could have done differently.
Its reflective, its charming, its mundane. This books makes me want to live.
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Alcohol, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual content
deathfulwitch's review against another edition
i honestly didn’t mind the non existent plot as much as i minded the objectification of women and the endless sexualization of women’s trauma. added to that, the perversity of the sexual scenes in this book (and there are a LOT of those), where women and their adult bodies are compared to children, was alarmingly disturbing to me, as it should be for everyone. oh and, nothing in the book told us that naoko’s first time was consensual so mc is an offender. such a nice guy.
also, the perpetuation of harmful narratives e.g. that women are no longer beautiful when they turn 30 (because everyone knows that’s when their transformation into gollum is finalized), that “it is only natural” for a woman to satisfy a man even if she doesn’t really want to be intimate with him, etc. made my reading experience even more unbearable, to say the least.
in conclusion, the message in this book is terrible, i do not understand how it became so popular, and tonight i will be putting myself in rice so i can heal from it.
p.s: the only good point i can think about is that the writing was beautiful.
Minor: Sexual assault and Misogyny
ansolutisti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment