Reviews with content warning for Ableism - People From My Neighbourhood

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

People From My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami

6 reviews

sweetsxrrxw's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this book was... okay. not horrible, not good, just okay.

i personally enjoy reading short stories, specially the ones where characters and plots are intertwined. however, there's a couple reasons why i couldn't enjoy this book at 100% :

firstly, i've been in a terrible reading slump for months and i thought that reading short stories would help... but it did not. i think it took me about a month to finish this, in three different sittings. so whenever i would pick it up again i'd just forget about most of the characters lmao

then, the plot is pretty bizarre. it might be a nice read for people who are into weird japanese lore buuut, it's not really my cup of tea.

however, despite these two issues, as i said earlier, it's an okay book! i liked how it just painted a picture of a whole neighborhood, explained its quirks, unique experiences and dived into different characters in every chapter. i think i could have enjoyed it more in different conditions

Content Warnings

rach_fornow's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I enjoyed the mix of mundane and magic. I also really like that the narrator is speaking from her perspective but we learn practically nothing about her. It’s just hearing a child retell stories basically with full belief, leaving us to guess what really happened.

I love that we do find out a lot about her moody best friend Kanae and her impressions of various characters in her neighborhood and school who she knows personally or relates rumors about. It feels very familiar to kid thinking.

Some of my favorite magical scenes were the Sweet School, the loss of gravity day, the emotion shacks. I liked when the author played around with those types of imagined scenarios a lot of us had growing up (or we could have had).

Content Warning

The Baby uses a trope of people with Dwarfism for a “not human” creature.
The Empress has a woman who can’t consent because of magic in it, and the author has her engage with multiple men in this state (brief mentions).

Content Warnings

khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

Content Warnings

robinks's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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? No

4.75

I really enjoyed all these super short vignettes. They varied a lot, from cute to disturbing, all infused with a bit of fantasy.

Content Warnings

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

the_reading_wren's review

Go to review page

funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.25

A fun collection of surreal, very short stories that are all interconnected. I think they’re impactful because they’re snippets of a surreal version of our own world, with astute observations and a similar amount of contradictions and strangeness.

Content Warnings

More...