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Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'
What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
14 reviews
royalwaves's review against another edition
4.0
This is exactly what I needed right now and made me want to work in a library so badly. The only reason I’m not giving this a higher rating is because the judging of the librarians weight was 100% not needed and I started to roll my eyes when a new character met her.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Sexism
readingsponsoredbybts's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming
lucylou's review
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
Loved the short stories, and how each person’s inner thoughts are portrayed. My only gripe is 3 of the 5 characters initially describe the librarian in an insanely fatphobic way, detracting from the scene and overall book a lot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia
skeltzer's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
4.0
Lovely little book, aside from the recurring fatphobia.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Fatphobia
vaekay's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
4.75
Amazing character work. I really connected with #1 and I additionally felt as if I would one day relate to the struggles of #5 in some way. I was able to connect to all of the characters and found their development to be beautiful.
The translator needed an editor though; there were over a dozen typos in the English copy. It was especially disappointing during #3, where you are connecting to a former magazine editor (lol!).
The translator needed an editor though; there were over a dozen typos in the English copy. It was especially disappointing during #3, where you are connecting to a former magazine editor (lol!).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Misogyny
Moderate: Body shaming and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol and Pedophilia
caroisreading's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-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
4.0
This is such a sweet collection of stories with the same comforting formula -- a librarian at a small community center recommends the perfect book for everyone, accompanied by a felted gift that she's handmade. I love that each book mentioned is a real book that we can all check out at the library, ourselves.
The common theme is about those who are lost, finding themselves. Some of us may feel behind, less successful than our peers. Some may feel we've been dealt a bad hand, and exhausted by unfair circumstances. And many of us want to be seen and appreciated. Michiko Aoyama replaces these insecurities with courage and hope, in a way that's not overbearing, but charming and creative.
I felt that the women in these stories were portrayed as being capable, inspiring and passionate, and yet succumbing to the gender inequalities of imbalanced household responsibilities, sexist professional practices, body image issues (lots of focus on how large the librarian is, in a kinda weird way that's disguised as magical realism?). These situations were illustrated lightly, and still went unaddressed, leaving me rather dejected.
Still, you'll enjoy this read if you love Japanese fiction and themes about work-life balance, finding purpose, and the transition to new life stages.
The common theme is about those who are lost, finding themselves. Some of us may feel behind, less successful than our peers. Some may feel we've been dealt a bad hand, and exhausted by unfair circumstances. And many of us want to be seen and appreciated. Michiko Aoyama replaces these insecurities with courage and hope, in a way that's not overbearing, but charming and creative.
I felt that the women in these stories were portrayed as being capable, inspiring and passionate, and yet succumbing to the gender inequalities of imbalanced household responsibilities, sexist professional practices, body image issues (lots of focus on how large the librarian is, in a kinda weird way that's disguised as magical realism?). These situations were illustrated lightly, and still went unaddressed, leaving me rather dejected.
Still, you'll enjoy this read if you love Japanese fiction and themes about work-life balance, finding purpose, and the transition to new life stages.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming and Pedophilia
daniellekat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-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
4.75
This was so charming and had me tearing up more than once. A similarly feel-good read as Before the Coffee gets Cold by Kawaguchi, but I found the characters more endearing here (however, I am a library worker so I'm definitely biased). I understand the repetitive aspect of the storytelling but I did find a few points to be overdone. The only thing I really disliked was the focus on Ms. Komachi's size. Overall, a must read for those who believe in the magic of libraries and the power of books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Body shaming
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
heather_renae's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming
arturo_luzen's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Body shaming
Minor: Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Sexism, Fatphobia, Grief, and Bullying
anjalisb's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The fatphobia in the book really ruined the stories for me. Fatphobia is just unnecessary and unpleasant. The fatphobia also gets more graphic and nasty with each characters story. I also found this book to be really repetitive - it is the same storyline a number of times over with characters "finding" a positive spin on their lives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism