dapiedimonte 's review for:

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

1.0

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There was nothing about this book I enjoyed. Not the characters, not the plot, not the prose. The writing was a mix of platitudes or left me feeling completely devoid of emotion. Despite Nori’s struggles, I never felt any connection with this character. The plot points are trite and this reads like a bad soap opera but was simultaneously boring. I don’t mind a sad book, but this was overkill and it felt like I was trying to be manipulated into feeling for Nori, because of all the tragedy. Instead I found myself just… over it. This is historical fiction and set in Japan, but other than the dates and locations noted at the beginning of each chapter, there is not any aspect of this book that takes you to that setting. I strongly considered DNFing this at 50% but decided to skim the last half only because it was a book club pick and wanted to be able to contribute to the conversation. I should have just DNFed it instead.