Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Fifty Words for Rain

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

24 reviews

emmatwetan's review

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dark 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

4.0

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asian_of_shield's review

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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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kittycaserine's review

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

This was almost a 5 star book but I found the ending unsatisfying. Which, perhaps was the goal. But I wanted real justice for this poor girl and that was ember received.

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regans's review

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dark sad slow-paced

1.75

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sarah_speaks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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yetilibrary's review

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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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aimnorth's review

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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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