Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

234 reviews

fairytomie's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book truly ripped my heart out. This is my introduction to Kawakami’s work and i’m in love with how poetic her writing is. 

Justice for these characters and the fact we don’t know what happened to Kojima is so heart-wrenching.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Ableism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, and Death

miafromorchardstreet's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

This shattered my heart into a million pieces and put it back together again with a new kind of beauty. Mieko you’re a different sort of genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Eating disorder

saoreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

This is an odd book; as I see it, it brings out perspectives worth reflecting on, but I find it infuriating that no justice was done. Being seen as different should not be a reason to be treated awfully, simply because they wanted to? It was hypocritical at most and selfish at best. They stuck to their own definitions, but it's frustrating to read something that seems to offer insight but provides nothing at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Body shaming, Bullying, Torture, Vomit, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Medical content

evajoanna's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Bullying, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault

nikitaaaart's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

*Trigger warning: These conversations and discourse need to happen. Not all triggers are bad for you. Some triggers are a way of introspecting one's own actions and thoughts to rectify them. Yes, they're discomforting but true change begins there. Yet I'm mentioning the following triggers for those who actually need it: mention of abuse, violence, bullying.*

Words ceased to exist in my head after I turned over the last page. How I'm even writing this is beyond me. But I'm making an attempt to make sense of the swirl of emotions this book left. 

Heaven is not just a book, not just a mere story of bullying. Kawakami portrays the raw, the real side of bullying and abuse the survivor experiences. It is not easy to read the violence, the indifference shown towards the protagonist, "Eyes" and Kojima, two 14 year old adolescent classmates in Japan who bond over the shared experience of their lives being brought down to only one thing — their pain.

While "Eyes", whose name we do not know experiences his life in a depressive state of feeling nothingness, of being nothingness, wishing he never existed for all this to begin with. Finding out meaning from all this pain, the survival, the acceptance that this is her reality is what Kojima believes in. That is her innocence. 

As you progress page by page the intensity, the heartbreak, the anger, the sadness, the empathy keep on increasing. It was honestly extremely disheartening to read the justification given by one of the characters for bullying. But that's reality. That is how they reason with themselves for a good night's sleep.

When we talk about the shared bond between the teens, with that also comes the trauma bonding between the two. Mieko has intricately described each and every crux of abuse, even the absence of parents or teachers from the whole scenario stands true to reality. 

While people will never not say that they should have stood up for themselves, or to be brave, or have some courage; the truth is people should never have bullied. It is not only about the victim. Even the classmates are all bystanders and supporters because they know they could be next. What about their courage? Their bravery?

I'm shattered with the story yet in awe of how well Mieko Kawakami, Sam Bett & David Boyd (translators) have articulated every emotion, every pain, and the distinct individual experience of being victimized. 

This goes beyond saying, you should read this to know the intricacies of abuse that exist in schools.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

rockmelon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

listen, if there's a hell, we're in it. and if there's a heaven, we're already there. this is it.

unhappamine & nihilismapamine 
with a touch of happamine & reflectpamine

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Eating disorder

roosmarleen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Vomit, Body shaming, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

ttortugamarina's review

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Bullying, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Body shaming

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Medical content

darlingcarmen's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Kojima…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual harassment

pickledponyo's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

it’s a very raw and beautifully written story about bullying that shows how weak and how isolated it can make people feel. loved it so so much, wished there was more as it captured the feelings perfectly.

it also shows us the inevitable and slow deterioration of kojima and it felt so real. i do wish i could have known more of her ending.

beware though… there is like two scenes of the main kid jerking off…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Sexual violence, Violence, Mental illness, Self harm, and Torture