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mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Car accident, Child death, and Death
cookiecat73's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Car accident, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Child death, and Cursing
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death, Acephobia/Arophobia, Cancer, Medical trauma, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Medical content
_kael_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The book has: Funny, wholesome, angry & sad moments, real & relatable characters, different types of relationships including platonic and Hawaiian pidgin. Everyone else was so heartwarming. Makes your heart full yk.
The book is: inspiring, bittersweet, heartwarming, sad, emotional, inspiring, reflective, poetic
Genres: LGBTQIA+, contemporary, fiction, young adult
About: processing grief, aro ace rep (brief mentions of the terms), music
Theme: summer vibes
Thoughts: I love the characters' relationship with each other. I thought Rumi and Mr. Watanabe's relationship was cute.
What I've reflected from what I've read: Relationships are complicated. So is life. It is complex. Every issue is rooted in interpersonal relationship issues (The Courage to Be Disliked). Most of the time due to insecurities, I've realized. The book TCTBD helped me in realizing this.
We all also have different emotional thresholds. To some, something is super sad, while to others it is not that sad.
It is also okay to not know all the answers in life. If you can get answers to some of your questions, you still don't need to know them right now. Everything in life is a journey, and everything takes time.
The ending: Roller coaster of emotions. The entire book's emotions in one. It started in
Reading Summer Bird Blue's lyrics makes me feel like that it's melody/tone has the same vibes of the song "Dessert Moon" from Disney's Aladdin live action movie. It flew in the end.
Additional Thoughts: Very real lead character. Ngl, I can relate with her personality somewhat. I also thought I wasn't an angry person, but I realized I get irritated/annoyed/angry at certain moments and sometimes I also wonder why...And the sounding mean without any intention to be too. Everyone just needs some understanding. We need to be ourselves and the misunderstood want to be understood too. Maybe we can all try to take a step back and assess what someone's intentions really are. I can really see that she's trying with the sandwich method 😅 More characters like Rumi please, and different types of characters too. Maybe we can gain understanding of different people more by being in their shoes.
The book gives me inspiration and ideas, like the sandwich method and how Rumi & Lea find inspiration for their songs.
Also, therapy is good. 👍🏼
Writing style: I found it a continuous read, but since it isn't really my go-to genre, it's not to the point that I want to know what happens next. It was an okay read, but I don't think I'll find myself rereading it.
Conclusions: All throughout the book, I was neutral about it and found it very reflective most of the time. I would give it a solid 3.75 until the ending T_T <///3 There were 1-2 or so moments where I felt a bit sad before that, without getting teary-eyed. Maybe because
There were so many quotes from the book that I liked and loved. Maybe I'll quote one or a few some other time. Or maybe I won't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Child death
Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Mental illness
longlost's review against another edition
- 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
I try to say so many words. It’s not true. You’re wrong. She’s alive. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re lying. I don’t believe you.
But I can’t say anything. The words for what I’m feeling don’t exist. "
This book my beloved. Akemi Dawn Bowman conveys Rumi's grief over her sister's death flawlessly, and manages to make Rumi likeable and understandable regardless of how she lashes out due to that grief. Her connection to music is described so beautifully and
Rumi's grief is perhaps the shining area of this book - it feels so palpable and overwhelming, just as it is to Rumi herself, and ultimately makes
The first chapter shows us the events that killed Rumi's sister, and from there we only see her in small memory segments that provide glimpes into their relationship,
Rumi grieves heavily throughout the book which can make it a hard read, but the story of her healing is definitely worth reading.
Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail