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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
It was like 450 pages with very few characters, mostly just one. That it was so good without a lot of plot or needing to be shorter is a testament to how good the writing is. It’s mostly musings about having a kid via artificial insemination for someone who hates having sex, growing up poor in Japan, plastic surgery, life and death, why people reproduce, depression, abuse, growing up without a parent or learning a parent is not biological, bodies in general. I think I’d read anything Kawakami writes.
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
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:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this, I was in a constant state of confusion. It started with one topic and then never touched on it ever again.
At first, I thought it was stream of consciousness, but it developed into something bigger, taking over every aspect of the novel.
I found myself going back, rereading passages, because we jump from one topic to another super quickly, that I thought that it's me who missed something. For example, oftentimes in dialogue, a character talks about one topic and another answers with a super unrelated topic. It totally threw me off. But then, at some point I was on for the ride and appreciated it as an unusual to me writing style.
Still, it made it harder for me to want to pick up the book, as I wasn't in the right minds pace to spend my time with endless passages on 5 topics at once, but would have wished for a more streamlined storyline. Which is sad, as I found a lot of dialogues and internal thought passages incredibly powerful and interesting, delivering solid arguments and ultimately felt like they didn't get the space they deserved.
At first, I thought it was stream of consciousness, but it developed into something bigger, taking over every aspect of the novel.
I found myself going back, rereading passages, because we jump from one topic to another super quickly, that I thought that it's me who missed something. For example, oftentimes in dialogue, a character talks about one topic and another answers with a super unrelated topic. It totally threw me off. But then, at some point I was on for the ride and appreciated it as an unusual to me writing style.
Still, it made it harder for me to want to pick up the book, as I wasn't in the right minds pace to spend my time with endless passages on 5 topics at once, but would have wished for a more streamlined storyline. Which is sad, as I found a lot of dialogues and internal thought passages incredibly powerful and interesting, delivering solid arguments and ultimately felt like they didn't get the space they deserved.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
When i first started reading this, all i know is that the book talks about gender and women specifically, not knowing the plot or the synopsis other than the two sisters.
Okay so my true impressions of the book are basically:
1. We are spending so much time inside of Natsu's head like i know first person naration is common but WOW, were really digging DEEP into her thoughts rather than focusing on whats actually happening around her, and
2. My friend said it talks about things that only women can think about and absolutely shes right. Only women can come up with all of these thoughts and overthinking things like Natsu and Maki.
Because i feel like were inside her head, the thoughts are so candid and as is, i know that she thinks about mundane, everyday things that I, as a woman, am very familiar with, but i cant help to think that i just never talk about it out loud or rather have these thoughts and experience written down. In a way, its very captivating, how candid it is.
One particular scene that got me thinking, 'wow. This is it. I absolutely agree 100%, like i never thought about it this way but WOW' was the one where Rika said about things that matters to a woman, and sure both women and men experience pain and hardship but the difference is that who is putting them through all of that? Whos to blame for hurting all those men? (For women, mostly you dont even need to ask that question.)
Kudos for Kawakami for writing this and putting it out there. I really hope more people would read it and not just women but also men, dont let everyone be desensitized to this
Okay so my true impressions of the book are basically:
1. We are spending so much time inside of Natsu's head like i know first person naration is common but WOW, were really digging DEEP into her thoughts rather than focusing on whats actually happening around her, and
2. My friend said it talks about things that only women can think about and absolutely shes right. Only women can come up with all of these thoughts and overthinking things like Natsu and Maki.
Because i feel like were inside her head, the thoughts are so candid and as is, i know that she thinks about mundane, everyday things that I, as a woman, am very familiar with, but i cant help to think that i just never talk about it out loud or rather have these thoughts and experience written down. In a way, its very captivating, how candid it is.
One particular scene that got me thinking, 'wow. This is it. I absolutely agree 100%, like i never thought about it this way but WOW' was the one where Rika said about things that matters to a woman, and sure both women and men experience pain and hardship but the difference is that who is putting them through all of that? Whos to blame for hurting all those men? (For women, mostly you dont even need to ask that question.)
Kudos for Kawakami for writing this and putting it out there. I really hope more people would read it and not just women but also men, dont let everyone be desensitized to this
