Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

6 reviews

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review

emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, Racism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Suicidal thoughts

_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

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

gloriazthompson's review against another edition

adventurous sad slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racism, Racial slurs, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Minor: Trafficking, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Death, Confinement, Child abuse, and Abortion

thevietvegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

It is a tragically beautiful read. It’s simply pain upon pain but it’s still so hopeful despite how bleak it is. It seems so painfully unnecessary to put Nori through everything she went through. Do not read this story unless you’re ready for your heart to break multiple times.

Also trigger warnings galore. Like everything that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong. Like truly a fucking tragedy this book is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Vomit, and Xenophobia

kelsielovesbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Child abuse, and Car accident