Reviews

The subject, bullying in schools, is heartbreaking and some scenes were so hard to read but they never feel senseless or like they’re in there for shock value.

Kawakami has the children reflect on their experiences and behaviours and delves into power dynamics, familial ties and relationships based on shared suffering.

Would not recommend if you’re sensitive to bullying but otherwise I do think it’s an important and thoughtful read and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

ameliie's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

ddae208s's review against another edition

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4.0

the ending still has me shook and a bit weirded out, i still don’t really understand what happened

korareads's review against another edition

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3.0

-might contain spoilers-
tw: bullying, attempted rape, sexual harassment, violence, self-harm, suicide ideation

lena_108's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

aylaliebs's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

So different from Breasts and Eggs but it definitely holds its own. A bit of a challenging read topic wise, hard to read about such vicious bullying, but worth it

saunak's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

3.75

This book was extremely hard for me to listen to and even harder to rate.
'Heaven' follows two middle-schoolers' treacherous bullying experiences. Initial frustrations and experiences slowly evolve into philosophical musings and questions to understand existence and nihilism. The author highlights everything from mockery due to physical appearance, morality, good vs evil, humanity or the lack of it, innocence or the loss of it, and more. Although spoken via fictional experiences of 14-year-olds (their words, thoughts, and actions are shocking and quite disturbing), the author vividly holds up a mirror to prick the audience's morality through these extremely uncomfortable cascading narratives. The end does have a positive note, but the book left a bitter aftertaste and truly so (what the author aimed for, I guess).

'...weakness matters, it has real meaning....but know what? If weakness matters so does strength and I don't mean weak people using the idea of strength to justify their weakness...'

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