Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

6 reviews

eluvion's review against another edition

3.75

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent

amfelix's review against another edition

3.75

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Read for an English class. The writing and description was beautiful but the content is very depressing. A must read for CanLit but also to be informed of Canada's past mistreatment towards Japanese-Canadians and the internment camps they were subjected to. Personally, didn't like it for the content of the book but I also understood that the purpose of the book was not to enjoy it and that it wasn't a light read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment

jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

juliebruzon's review against another edition

4.0

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Death of parent, War

Moderate: Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment

rzh's review against another edition

4.0

---

read this for a canadian literature course at university: very moving, lovely prose, and a valuable insight to the japanese-canadian experience towards the end of the second world war. can definitely understand why it forms a key part in most canadian literature courses in university. perhaps quite difficult at times to tell whether the narrator is in the past or the future, but i’d say that’s definitely intentional and forms an interesting comment on different characters’ approaches to family and cultural history. 4 stars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Sexual assault

perenian's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional sad 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: Yes

---

Kogawa’s writing is poetic, beautiful as always, and utterly compelling. I loved how practically everything in the book was connected. I felt Naomi (the main character)’s grief through each word—it is a grief that hangs on, tugs at your heart for days afterwards.

“Itsuka, itsuka…” Naomi’s Oba-san says, over and over. “Someday, someday.”

Those are the words I’d use to describe Kogawa’s story. Oba-san’s words are a kind of foreshadowing, almost: it is a promise of things yet to come, things both painful and healing. It is not a word of certainty, either, and it is its wavering nature that solidifies the fears Naomi (as well as the others) has. Oba-san is a novel about journeys––those that are unfinished, those that are of self-discovery, and those that are pushed through with anxiety and a fear of the unknown.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Sexual assault

Again, not a light read.