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franksreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Moderate: Misogyny and Pregnancy
Minor: Murder, War, and Toxic relationship
nineinchnails's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this was pretty eerie and atmospheric at parts - it almost felt like a horror, which does explain feeling slightly cheated by the ending. despite how short this was (183 pages) it felt much longer somehow; even the side characters felt relatively complex and well developed.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide, and Misogyny
Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, and Grief
Minor: War
Child neglectalexikakon's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Child abuse
softbooknerd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Death of parent
a_epistemological_crisis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Grief and Suicide
Minor: Death, Suicide, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty
rimd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Suicide
amelialikesmatcha'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, and Child abuse
paperback_jokica's review
- 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
2.0
I also wish there were more exploration on grief … I know it was supposed to make me feel sad about the character when she is being so compliant and without a voice of her own against all people around her, but it just made me more frustrated and annoyed by her.
I know a lot of this criticism is just personal bias , but if anyone shares that bias i hope this review was helpful
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, and Child abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty
cady_sass's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.25
There is definitely something to be said about the dichotomy of failures in motherhood between Etsuko and Sachiko: one failed their daughter by way of gross (willful) negligence, and the other by smothering over-parenting, although never explicitly described but heavily implied. The novel flips back and forth between present day, Etsuko living in England and interacting with her youngest daughter in the wake of her eldest daughter’s suicide, and Etsuko’s memory of living in post-WW2 Japan while pregnant with her eldest daughter and befriending a single mother. The two women are very unlikely friends and could not painted more differently. Sachiko is, for lack of another word, a sociopath. She is absolutely horrible to everyone in her life and is only concerned with herself, at everyone else’s expense. Etsuko is caring and nonjudgmental, helpful and generous, often stepping in and “mothering” Sachiko’s troubled and neglected daughter, Mariko. By the time the novel is over, you’re left to wonder if Sachiko and Mariko even existed at all, and wonder perhaps Etsuko was the villain all along.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Suicide
Moderate: War, Child abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, and Gaslighting
talonsontypewriters'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
3.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicide, and Animal death
Minor: War, Violence, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse