Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

36 reviews

aimnorth's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.25

The book reads with lots of inconsistencies in storytelling.  Things that happen at the beginning of the book

like Alice and Nori reading the diaries together

are forgotten later on

like when it is said that Nori has never told anyone about the diaries before Noah

. Beyond plot inconsistencies, there are lots of character inconsistencies. Nori is often described as stupid one minute and then smart the next, by multiple other characters, and it changes to fit the plot of the moment. Character motivations change often, having one goal or personality until it's convenient for the plot that that character have an opposite motivation or personality

like when Akira is obscenely protective of Nori to the point of being constantly in her business, until it is convenient for him to ignore her with no explanation long enough for Nori to be raped by his best friend without him ever having the slightest notion it happened

. 

It doesn't seem as if the author had a great understanding of Japan in the 1930s-1950s, either, and the setting reads too modern sometimes while the character actions frequently read out of the 1800s, with all the woman constantly fainting or vomiting at the slightest inconvenience, and pregnancy being something nothing but the doctors, not even woman who have had children, can recognize or name. It's very odd and unrealistic. 

Nori also reads as being fetishized sometimes. Despite everyone in her family being described as tall, Nori is described as the shortest,  most petite person with "meager" strength that can still push people over. However, she is also often described as well-endowed starting when the character is 13. She is put through a lot of awful physical, verbal, and sexual abuse in the book and handles it with a sort of mild attitude. The pain is almost romanticized. It can come off quite gross, especially since this is happening to a minor for a majority of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Rape, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Car accident, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Blood

There is a graphic rape scene in the book. There are also extremely detailed incidents of skin bleaching, physical attacks, life threatening injuries, and suicide attempts. The main character, at one point, is part of a brothel. Lots of under age girls being mistreated often in the book. Read the whole thing will caution if any of the triggers are rough for you because they are continuous themes through the book.

cc0906's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

Minor: War

briemont5's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit, Miscarriage, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

lucys_book_boutique's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Pregnancy, Racism, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Confinement, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

_desreads's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

Appropriate title and mood read during Juneary here in Seattle. I first heard about this book on the currently reading podcast, I was intrigued by the synopsis: in a post-WWII Japan, Nori is a young girl who is taught not to fight, resist or think. Only to obey. For reasons unknown to the reader, Nori is abandoned by her mother and left on the doorstep of her grandmother’s. Nori soon learns from her confinement to the attic, to the chemical baths to lighten her skin, that she is an outcast, and that her aristocrat mother had an “illegitimate” child with an American soldier. Nori is doing her best to obey her mother’s wishes in obedience and compliance when her older half brother, Akira, comes to stay with them. From there her life is turned upside down, knowing that she not only has a brother but someone else who knew their mother, and after she builds a relationship with him, she can no longer stay silent and endure this caged life. She must find a way to be free.

Ok I’ll start out with this: it was hard to put the book down. Lemmie creates a beautiful story and gritty characters from the beginning that sucks you in. You are rooting for Nori the entire time, which is what gets you through reading about all of the abuse she endures. But wow, it is one tragedy after tragedy for Nori, think Kristin Hannah style but with a less redemptive ending. We grow up with Nori and as the book spans decades of her life, we see glimpses of hope and redemption, but then the story veers in a completely differently direction, it can be disorienting. And I am sorry but I did not like the ending. At all. 

And yet, like I said, I had a hard time putting the book down, the characters are very compelling and you are Nori’s cheerleader the whole way through. Plus the historical context and setting of the novel is fascinating. I think Lemmie gave the world a great debut, this wasn’t totally for me, but I will 100% read her next one.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Miscarriage

caleighrosebud's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, and Rape

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, and War

christib's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

ashlefevre's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

tembriann's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, War, Trafficking, and Sexual assault

martachbc's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

𝔽𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕪 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 ℝ𝕒𝕚𝕟 is tough for me to review, because I didn’t hate it, but I struggled with it a lot. I actually finished it a while ago (if you can’t tell from the decidedly not-winter pic), but I’ve been marinating on it since.

Set in Japan right after WW2, Fifty Words for Rain tells the coming-of-age story of Noriko Kamiza, the biracial child of her upper-class mother and an American soldier. Her mother leaves her with her grandparents who either ignore or abuse her — until her half-brother moves in. Yet her saga doesn’t stop there: She’s sold to a geisha facility, rescued yet again by her brother (with whom she has a very weird, though not line-crossing relationship), stuck in a bizarrely abusive relationship, and periodically, Grandma shows up to tell her how much she sucks. It’s a lot.

Where I think I land on Fifty Words For Rain: the story was compelling, but I had too many complaints to love it fully. 

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕕:

• A diverse main character in whom you could find both inspiration and sympathy
• A compelling epic spanning decades that made me not want to put it down

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀 𝔻𝕚𝕕𝕟’𝕥:

• Apparently the author began writing this as a teenager… and TBH the writing was showed that at times
• This could border on torture porn. Every bad thing possible happened to Nori. 
• As a character, Nori’s development felt stunted, then jumpy. I don’t always think she stayed true to her character.

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀’𝕞 ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕊𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥:

• The end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Racism, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Fatphobia, Self harm, and Suicide attempt