Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

13 reviews

asian_of_shield's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the best written found/protective older brother trope I’ve read. I loved the relationship between Akira and Nori. They’re both so devoted to each other, it hurts. 

Speaking of hurt — talk about hurt/comfort and hurt/no comfort. There was a good balance of both, but be prepared for a never ending pain ride of tragedy. 

This book devastated me. Mostly in a good way, but the ending left too many questions in the air for my liking, hence why I couldn’t give it a full five stars. But overall, it’s extremely well-written. Highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Suicide attempt

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

yetilibrary's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

This book was a solid 3 until I got to the ending. I would have given it a 2, but, in spite of the slow pace (and the fact that it doesn't need to be 450 pages), it kept me engrossed. So I'll give it a 2.5.

So. That ending. Spoiler-free thoughts: I hated, hated, HATED the ending. The ending was utterly infuriating. I thought through it, and while it can be justified on the basis of character (flaws?), I think there are arguments that justify an alternative ending, and perhaps more to the point: I HATE IT. 

After finally finding "home"--in a person--and accepting love in her life, Nori returns to Japan. I agree that she pretty much has to. But then, she accedes to her merciless grandmother's demands, because she ... thinks she is fulfilling what Akira was going to do? Because she can probably close down one brothel? Because she believes she can eventually REFORM A GIANT MAFIA ENTERPRISE? Because she plans to change even more of her personality such that she can command mafiosi, and powerful businessmen in general? She isn't even ready to face her dying grandmother without ripping herself to shreds and fainting! And to do all this, she has to turn her back on her only true friend AND the man she loves--the father of her child. Furthermore, she dooms that child to the position in life that she held, albeit with a much better existence. 

It's possible to argue that she would do this out of devotion to Akira, the great love of her life, and because deep down, she still doesn't believe she deserves happiness or love. That's true. But this choice also requires belief that this is what Akira wants (her vision of him never says this), AND that this is what he wants for HER. It also requires belief that she is willing to hurt the two people she loves most in the world, and (essentially) sacrifice her child, for the sake of fulfilling her grandmother's wishes. Let's be clear: this was always what her grandmother wanted. 

My final reason for hating this ending is purely selfish: after so much pain in this book, I just wanted better for Nori. I wanted better for her than a return to the place that hurt her so much (she vomits when she gets to this house!), and a choice to take over the role that her wicked grandparents had held for so long, with no one she could trust at her side. And this was all due to a vision of her dead brother and a quixotic belief that she could stop her family's widespread evil, singlehandedly. (In fairness, I'm sure she can stop some of it. And it's a good and worthy goal. But I have my doubts that any one person can take down an operation that large, and that old.)

TL;DR I HATED THIS ENDING WITH ALL MY BEING.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Rape

Minor: Rape

alicelalicon's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, Racism, Car accident, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexism, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

lovetlr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Car accident and Sexual assault

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

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

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

jaynovara's review

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Moderate: Grief and Miscarriage

keatynbergsten's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship