A review by cara_selene
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

 
Absolutely incredible. This novel is going to stay with me for a while. I was afraid of jumping into this one after seeing content warnings and other people's reactions, it was a hard read for sure, but absolutely worth it.

"I wasn't crying because I was sad. I guess I was crying because we had nowhere else to go, no choice but to go on living in this world. Crying because we had no other world to choose, and crying at everything before us, everything around us."

The only reason it's not rated higher is because I was incredibly aggravated by Momose's arguments in the philosophical argument they have about why he bullies. I get the nihilism in his monologue, but it was just a whole lot of nonsense to me.

Read for WIT Month (Women in Translation), Aug 2023

 
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