Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

20 reviews

sunflowersarepretty's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

wth?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual violence, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Child death

Minor: Medical content and Medical trauma

japanasi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this was extremely hard and disturbing to read

a very raw way of storytelling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Bullying, Medical content, Physical abuse, Ableism, Gaslighting, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail

cviii's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Excrement, Classism, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, and Medical content

adriaxlife's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kind of a heavy read, i would recommend to check trigger warnings before reading.
i had to stop a few times when certain scenes where being descriptive. also, what was that ending? it feel flat and i’m still thinking what was the meaning of “heaven” all about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Blood, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder and Gaslighting

_inge's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I knew this would be a tough read. I usually avoid books which feature bullying as it is, and I was warned of particularly vivid descriptions of bullying in this novel. I didn’t think it would be this vivid and this disturbing, however. I skimmed some passages because they were too much to handle. There’s a lot of trigger warnings for anything relating to bullying in this. 

I didn’t feel a connection to any of the main characters, as them being bullied was the center of this novel. Aside from Kojima’s interest in art and both of them enjoying reading fiction, we don’t actually see them do anything beyond being bullied or discussing what bullying has done to them. I don’t even think the protagonist is named, as everyone simply calls him ‘Eyes’ when he’s bullied. Bullying therefore takes over their entire personalities. 

This does mean there’s space for some really interesting conversations about what it means to be bullied or to bully. Some ideas on this really helped me shape my own feelings about having been bullied in the past.

I love that we got a conversation between one of the bullies and the protagonist as well. I’m not sure if I agree with the ‘happy’ ending; I wonder if the protagonist genuinely felt disturbed by his eye too and wanted it fixed because of that, or if his sole reasoning for wanting it fixed was being bullied for it.

I wish we’d learn more about Kojima too. Since the protagonist doesn’t see her again I hope she didn’t harm herself in any way. The ‘happy’ ending for him therefore didn’t feel as happy as a whole, as Kojima might be struggling.

 

All in all this was a difficult read. It’s definitely not for everyone, and I’m unsure what to think of this myself. It’ll be interesting to see if I think back on this in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Torture, Bullying, Self harm, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, and Dysphoria

xaracelli's review

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

lavyourself's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Bullying, Ableism, Physical abuse, Blood, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming

lewisatlarge's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an extremely challenging book. Reading about the torture these kids endured at school at the hands of other students (to call them bullies infantilizes the absolutely horrific stuff they did) was hard to read at times and 100% not what I expected when I picked up this book. I did find myself screaming into the ether “where are the adults at this school?! Why are these parents so blasé and hands off?! Why are these kids so cruel?? Can one of you PLEASE tell a god damn adult?! ” And I finished the book and wondered what it was all for…I didn’t like it as I was reading it, but it’s been two days and I haven’t stopped thinking about it, which to me is the mark of an impactful book. I can’t really say why or what the overall point was, but I do find myself wondering about the characters and their motivations and about their perspectives more than I have in similar novels. I would say read cautiously for sure…some of the “bullying” is akin to torture quite honestly and incredibly hard to read, especially because you don’t know what will happen and how far these little creeps will go. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

moraofthestory's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Medical content

ruthie_'s review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Eating disorder