Reviews tagging 'War'

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

15 reviews

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, War, Abortion, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

k_pelowk's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Goodness gracious, this book is so beautiful. I just finished it and think I may pick it up and read it again right away.  Like a poem, rhythm, word choice and simplicity build effortless images and character sketches. It broadened my understanding of my American History and heritage. I loved every moment, even the frequent painful ones. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Suicide, Infertility, Grief, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Rape, Death, Child death, War, and Sexual assault

Most are very brief as the book is a series of vignettes.

dehood's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, and War

balfies's review against another edition

challenging informative sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Beautiful little book about Japanese immigrants to America in the first half of the twentieth century, told from the collective perspective of the women. Otsuka is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers, she has such a unique voice and her storytelling collages are so deftly constructed.

One of the chapters appeared as a short story in a 2011 edition of Granta magazine, and I had used it as one of my HSC Belonging texts, so it's good to have finally read the full thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Rape, and War

waqupi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Minor: War and Child death

fearsome_to_behold's review

slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism and Death

Minor: War

madyreadsig's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Miscarriage, Child death, Sexism, Rape, Infertility, War, Racism, Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, and Abortion

axeles's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

interesting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: War

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

the point of view for this book was SO effective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Violence, Child death, Classism, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Murder, Racism, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Child abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

mekrasts's review

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

This book covers the experiences of women who are transported from Japan to America in order to get married, and follows them in their journeys of change all the way to World War II. It is written in such a way that seems to be in the first person, but describes experiences from all of the women at once. It is mostly a sad story, about loss and longing, but it doesn't lack hopefulness and contentment. I think the main thing that I took away from it is that change is hard, and that the only thing you can do in the face of it is adapt. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence