neele_hihi
My name is Neele~ I actually read a lot of literature in Korean so my favorite books aren't available here yet. Right now I'm also reading more in English :)
810 points
neele_hihi commented on neele_hihi's review of Hunchback
I'm honestly not sure what to rate this book yet. I liked it and I read it in a day but at the same time I didn't enjoy it most of the time. I think I have this problem with female characters who just allow men to treat them like shit because they think it's what they themselves want. Another example of this would be "Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata.
I really wanted to like this book but... idk. Much of it made me uncomfortable without actually serving that much of a point? I mean, there is a point but it feels muddied up especially in the ending. I do understand that maybe this highschool character S is a fantasy of who she wants to be and imagines herself to be if she wasn't disabled and she didn't actually die. Or maybe she did die and it's meant to show how two women struggle with opposite things (one wants to get pregnant and have an abortion and overall she wants to be able to perform sex however she likes - the other is a sex worker who can't otherwise pay for her school tuition and has no other choice). Idk... maybe it's about how different women view and perform sex. Maybe it is about how men will always find ways to sexualize and take advantage of women.
The book surely made me think and that's good. I learned a lot through this book as well and we definitely need more disabled main characters. But overall something about it felt rushed which made some of those scenes seem out of place and even triggering to me
3neele_hihi commented on a post
neele_hihi finished reading and wrote a review...
I'm honestly not sure what to rate this book yet. I liked it and I read it in a day but at the same time I didn't enjoy it most of the time. I think I have this problem with female characters who just allow men to treat them like shit because they think it's what they themselves want. Another example of this would be "Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata.
I really wanted to like this book but... idk. Much of it made me uncomfortable without actually serving that much of a point? I mean, there is a point but it feels muddied up especially in the ending. I do understand that maybe this highschool character S is a fantasy of who she wants to be and imagines herself to be if she wasn't disabled and she didn't actually die. Or maybe she did die and it's meant to show how two women struggle with opposite things (one wants to get pregnant and have an abortion and overall she wants to be able to perform sex however she likes - the other is a sex worker who can't otherwise pay for her school tuition and has no other choice). Idk... maybe it's about how different women view and perform sex. Maybe it is about how men will always find ways to sexualize and take advantage of women.
The book surely made me think and that's good. I learned a lot through this book as well and we definitely need more disabled main characters. But overall something about it felt rushed which made some of those scenes seem out of place and even triggering to me
3Post from the Hunchback forum
"Those words were born from the slimy, gunky sludge of the swamp, the mud out of which the lotus flowers grew. Without mud, the lotus could not survive."
Just wanted to put this quote here because I thought it was beautiful.
1Post from the Hunchback forum
"My ultimate dream is to get pregnant and have an abortion, just like a normal woman.
There was no small irony about tweeting my dreams of being a normal woman with the very same fingers that had just authorized a male carer to bathe me, a command that would carry me ever further from the lives of normal women."
I really feel like I'm missing some cultural context. I know that Japan has an... interesting relationship to sex, sex work and everything related to it but I'm not aware that abortion is so common it would be described as something normal women do?
(Btw just wanted to say, I'm 100% pro-choice. I'm just genuinely confused)
1Post from the Hunchback forum
Post from the Hunchback forum
"The spines of all those healthy kids with their bad postures didn't bend a smidgen. After all, their bodies housed the correct blueprints."
Really great reminder that sometimes bad things just happen and we did nothing to deserve them. In a world like ours where we are often told that we get to harvest what we planted, this is important to remember. The world is not fair and we do not always get what we deserve
1neele_hihi finished a book
Hunchback
Saou Ichikawa
0neele_hihi wrote a review...
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0neele_hihi finished a book
The Lamb
Lucy Rose
0neele_hihi set their yearly reading goal to 15
neele_hihi's 2026 Reading Challenge
0Post from the The Lamb forum
Post from the The Lamb forum
Post from the The Lamb forum
Post from the The Lamb forum
Post from the The Lamb forum
"Children received adults' words in the smallest portions. The adults left pieces out in the fray; the pieces they thought we didn't handle well. But those left-out pieces were the ones we needed the most."
Never thought I would relate Margot's character so deeply when I just started reading this book but damn it, I do. I really hope there will be a redemption arc because sometimes I feel like the plot is hinting at one.
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