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aroojkayani's review against another edition
5.0
“Because We’re always in pain, we know exactly what it means to hurt somebody else”
bibliofienna's review against another edition
4.0
I love how the idea that the writer wants to present: "Hope exists not only in happy stories where everyone feels safe and despair is found only in tragedies."
Even when in their lowest point, the main characters still maintains to have the highest power to be a good person even though they have to fight their own demons and barely made it out alive.
When the writer portray a moment with full intensity, in a state of despair, we can understand deeply what the underlying meaning of what is going on, why certain characters do what they do, why the writer feel the need to present us the brutality vividly.
This book delivers a message that we hold the power in staying true to ourselves, especially when it's hard to do so.
I also want to warn you that this book has intense, heavy and detailed bullying scenes, including violence, attempted rape. Other than that there are death, self-harm, suicidal thoughts. So please be careful and read it consciously.
I'm happy that the male main character got what he wants and I understand that we can only see this story from his point of view, but what about Kojima? We can only hope that she get what she wants, a normal life. I just want to make sure she's gonna be okay or at least she got some closure (a normal one
Even when in their lowest point, the main characters still maintains to have the highest power to be a good person even though they have to fight their own demons and barely made it out alive.
When the writer portray a moment with full intensity, in a state of despair, we can understand deeply what the underlying meaning of what is going on, why certain characters do what they do, why the writer feel the need to present us the brutality vividly.
This book delivers a message that we hold the power in staying true to ourselves, especially when it's hard to do so.
I also want to warn you that this book has intense, heavy and detailed bullying scenes, including violence, attempted rape. Other than that there are death, self-harm, suicidal thoughts. So please be careful and read it consciously.
I'm happy that the male main character got what he wants and I understand that we can only see this story from his point of view, but what about Kojima? We can only hope that she get what she wants, a normal life. I just want to make sure she's gonna be okay or at least she got some closure (a normal one
oleanderwillow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I don't know if I liked this book. The writing is beautiful and descriptive which I really loved and appreciated, but I don't think I understood the point of it? Maybe it was too philosophical for me. After reading reviews it is apparently the author's take on nihilism but I'm not sure. Definitely is dark, upsetting, and uncomfortable and has deeply, deeply messed up characters for one reason or another, so be aware of that. I'll leave you with a few of my favourite passages.
"In the reds and greens of the canvases, maidens danced with animals, a goat or something carried a violin in its mouth, and a man and a woman embraced under a gigantic blazing bouquet. This swarm of unrelated images was like a glimpse into a dream. But not a good one. The joy I saw there was ferocious, and the sadness suffocatingly cold." (pg 37)
"We'll understand some things while we're alive and some after we die. But it doesn't really matter when it happens. What matters is that all the pain and all the sadness have meaning." (pg 62)
"Halfway across, I looked up at the building I was passing. It stood there like the weathered bones of some enormous creature. The platform in the middle of the field was crooked, with flaking paint, like some partially digested section of the skeleton." (pg 75)
"If anything has meaning, everything does. And if nothing has meaning, nothing does." (pg 157)
"In the reds and greens of the canvases, maidens danced with animals, a goat or something carried a violin in its mouth, and a man and a woman embraced under a gigantic blazing bouquet. This swarm of unrelated images was like a glimpse into a dream. But not a good one. The joy I saw there was ferocious, and the sadness suffocatingly cold." (pg 37)
"We'll understand some things while we're alive and some after we die. But it doesn't really matter when it happens. What matters is that all the pain and all the sadness have meaning." (pg 62)
"Halfway across, I looked up at the building I was passing. It stood there like the weathered bones of some enormous creature. The platform in the middle of the field was crooked, with flaking paint, like some partially digested section of the skeleton." (pg 75)
"If anything has meaning, everything does. And if nothing has meaning, nothing does." (pg 157)
t3mmie's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bede03's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
heatherr_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cupidcat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
A strange, uncomfortable read that was also heartbreaking. Kawakami writes with a mostly unsuspecting and sometimes uneasy style, leaving me grasping for more but also mildly horrified at the events of Kojima and the unnamed mc. I enjoyed the dialogue between the two of them and how it twisted & developed out of the mc’s control. Felt frustrated at how Kojima’s need to create meaning / purpose out of her suffering blinded her but can understand the trajectory of her beliefs. Would read again, although probably not anytime soon.
grace_tokarski's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
therkive's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Short review: what the hell
--
What a troublingly real novel. The reader is brought into the lives of two children -- the narrator, known as Eyes -- and Kojima, known as Hazmat -- who are two middle-school kids who are bullied, as they believe, because of their lower standing in their school. The narrator, for his lazy eye, and Kojima, for her dirtiness. This bullying is relentless and ruthless, and as they both note on separate occasions, it seems as though their classmates have learned the art of physical violence without leaving behind marks.
This bullying is also the cause for the narrator's budding secret friendship with Kojima. They exchange letters in secret at school, discussing a variety of topics-from their families to nihilistic concepts of existence-but never the bullying they endure. They never exchange words at school, for fear of retribution and mockery by their bullies. As Kojima and the narrator become closer, they visit Heaven - a painting of two individuals who reached heaven after surviving the worst of traumas.
This shocks the narrator, who had, by then, convinced himself that his eye was the cause for his pain. There was no reason for his suffering - it simply was, as his bully states. His classmates felt like it, and coincidentally, he was there, in their line of vision and that was it. Unlike what he and Kojima believed, their suffering had no purpose and was occurring just because.
But, despite its short length, the book acting as a brief insight into the lives of the victims of bullying, its resolution felt clear-cut. The narrator, after his and Kojima's friendship is discovered by their bullies, chooses to be honest about his experiences at school with his step-mother, becoming another person to betray Kojima as he has his lazy eye surgically fixed. This is, in essence, my only qualm about a book about the terrifyingly sad realities of childhood and adolescence.
Kawakami uses this text write about her own experiences with bullying and discusses the philosophical musings of nihilism, citing [b:Thus Spoke Zarathustra|51893|Thus Spoke Zarathustra|Friedrich Nietzsche|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1650680683l/51893._SY75_.jpg|196327], utilizing a raw and tender portrait of the violence children endure by other children, often for no reason at all. She does not sugarcoat the violence, its brutal reality forcing the reader to confront how violent bullying truly is. Her prose is sharp; dark and effective in delivering the message that needed to be said. You do not need a plot to understand the events of the book; the conversations between the narrator and Kojima supplement their development as adolescents. It is aching as you read through the narrator's inner thoughts, watching the way his mental state deteriorates with each trigger point, adults in his life - teachers and parents - unaware and unable to adequately intervene.
Short review: what the hell
--
What a troublingly real novel. The reader is brought into the lives of two children -- the narrator, known as Eyes -- and Kojima, known as Hazmat -- who are two middle-school kids who are bullied, as they believe, because of their lower standing in their school. The narrator, for his lazy eye, and Kojima, for her dirtiness. This bullying is relentless and ruthless, and as they both note on separate occasions, it seems as though their classmates have learned the art of physical violence without leaving behind marks.
This bullying is also the cause for the narrator's budding secret friendship with Kojima. They exchange letters in secret at school, discussing a variety of topics-from their families to nihilistic concepts of existence-but never the bullying they endure. They never exchange words at school, for fear of retribution and mockery by their bullies. As Kojima and the narrator become closer, they visit Heaven - a painting of two individuals who reached heaven after surviving the worst of traumas.
Spoiler
As with bullying, the violence becomes worse and worse, and the pair continue to rely on the letters between them to cope, believing that their inaction against the violence against them, by enduring their personal suffering, will lead them to Heaven as well. They do not run away, they do not band together, and they do not stand up to their bullies. Soon, the violence peaks, and the narrator is left bloody and reaping the consequences of his wounds, having to go to the hospital for the first time in months. On a return check-up, he runs into one of his bully's friends - an indifferent bystander - attempting to confront him with Kojima's belief that his lazy eye was the cause for all his suffering. But, our narrator discovers that he and Kojima could not have been any more wrong:"Like, I know everyone laughs at you, kicks you, punches you, and I know it happens every day. You're not wrong about that part. And your eyes are messed up, so everyone calls you Eyes. That's true. But it's just a coincidence. Your eyes have nothing to do with what happens at school. [...] There's no reason it has to be you. It could have been anyone. But you happened to be there, and we happened to all be in a certain mood, so things went the way they did."
This shocks the narrator, who had, by then, convinced himself that his eye was the cause for his pain. There was no reason for his suffering - it simply was, as his bully states. His classmates felt like it, and coincidentally, he was there, in their line of vision and that was it. Unlike what he and Kojima believed, their suffering had no purpose and was occurring just because.
But, despite its short length, the book acting as a brief insight into the lives of the victims of bullying, its resolution felt clear-cut. The narrator, after his and Kojima's friendship is discovered by their bullies, chooses to be honest about his experiences at school with his step-mother, becoming another person to betray Kojima as he has his lazy eye surgically fixed. This is, in essence, my only qualm about a book about the terrifyingly sad realities of childhood and adolescence.
Kawakami uses this text write about her own experiences with bullying and discusses the philosophical musings of nihilism, citing [b:Thus Spoke Zarathustra|51893|Thus Spoke Zarathustra|Friedrich Nietzsche|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1650680683l/51893._SY75_.jpg|196327], utilizing a raw and tender portrait of the violence children endure by other children, often for no reason at all. She does not sugarcoat the violence, its brutal reality forcing the reader to confront how violent bullying truly is. Her prose is sharp; dark and effective in delivering the message that needed to be said. You do not need a plot to understand the events of the book; the conversations between the narrator and Kojima supplement their development as adolescents. It is aching as you read through the narrator's inner thoughts, watching the way his mental state deteriorates with each trigger point, adults in his life - teachers and parents - unaware and unable to adequately intervene.