Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

358 reviews

highfivegirl's review

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A rough read for me. The escalating bullying was tough and then getting through one of the bully's philosophy on why they bully was infuriating. Heartbreaking discussions on self-concept, self-worth, and friendship within the context of its victims. 
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evavaale's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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biesterba's review

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challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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sammyb's review against another edition

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

3.0

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oz2021's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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theramblingreader's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

The writing of this book itself is objectively great. However, the descriptions of violent bullying were so well written that they shook me. I couldn't finish this book for a while after one scene
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tangerinejellies's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Not completely sure how to feel about this book, it was a very heavy read and some of the characters’ outlooks on the world were quite unsettling, though not impossible to understand. They’re kids who still have a lot of maturing to do, and don’t necessarily understand the world around them that well yet, so I can see how they’d think like that, which all the more adds to the sort of pain I felt reading this, witnessing the hardship of navigating the dark parts of the world and trauma and violence and things like that at such a young age. Rough. 
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my_a's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

⭐️3.99

God this was heavy and uncomfortable in its directness, especially if you've been bullied. Definetly feels like a Booker Prize book.

Beautiful prose and interesting philosophies, makes you think about bullying, trauma, and relationships.
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alinas_library's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Ein sehr direkter, schnörkelloser und sachlicher Erzählstil berichtet aus Sicht des 14-jährigen Protagonisten von Mobbing, Gewalt und einer ungewöhnlichen Freundschaft. Fassungslos über die Untätigkeit und das Wegsehen der Erwachsenen, die rohe Gewalt der Mitschüler*innen und das fehlende Mitgefühl lässt mich dieses Buch mit sehr gemischten Gefühlen zurück. 
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pezinho's review

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

It's sad how to Kojima, the thing that makes their friendship possible is their trauma or "signs". It's as if she can't see him for anything else other than his signs, while he sees Kojima as a friend and someone who understands him. 

Because her signs are not something innate, but something she actively decides to do to stick out, she can't understand how it is to have to deal with something out of your control like he does, so her judging him for wanting to change felt even more tone-deaf. To me, it showed she never truly understood him.

I enjoyed seeing "Eyes" relationship with his mom develope closer to the end of the book. It was hopeful to see him be able to open up to her, speak his mind and make the decisions he felt was best for him, to actually have control of his own life for once.
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