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felicitysingleton's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.25
This book was brilliantly worded with themes of the senses, feminism, food, culture, misogyny and relationships. The translation is amazing and needs to be commended. The story is well written and even though the book is longer it leaves a sense of wanting to read more. It’s the perfect length as each chapter creates backstory and depth for the individual characters involved. It highlights modern day issues within Japanese culture but it also relates to the wider picture of the world’s issues relating to body shape, size and beauty standards.
whalehair's review
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
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
5.0
redwavereads's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
emilykennedy's review
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
estelle_rt's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book honestly did not meet my expectations, maybe they were too high but I thought this was going to be more exciting ngl
fionag's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A read I was disappointed by. I agree with a lot of reviews I’ve seen that this book is a lot longer than it needs to be and could’ve been much sharper if a couple hundred pages were cut. I also think that the marketing of this book was perhaps misleading, as from the content on socials I assumed this would be the story of a journalist slowly siding with a killer and joining the dark side, a la Hannibal. It’s a shame because the first part of the book I enjoyed and then it fell off for me. Some discussions of sexism felt far too on the nose and I don’t think they were adding anything new. I didn’t like our main character and I thought she didn’t have any agency. The ‘twist’ at the end was so unsurprising and there’s a part in the middle that annoyed me and felt pointless. Also the body shaming is extreme and something I grew bored of, though if you were struggling with disordered thoughts I can imagine this would be really triggering. The narration on audio felt a bit strange as I struggled to get where a paragraph changed and it felt a bit rushed. Overall definitely not for me but the food descriptions were amazing and I really did find Kajii an intriguing character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
chels139's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75