Rereading this as an adult is hilarious. It always irked me when I was younger how in none of her works the rape is never properly acknowledged or addressed and I know with this reread that I liked this so much back then coz it was the first time she somewhat let her characters actually properly express their trauma of experiencing that kinda trauma even though it was used as a by the way explanation to further the mother’s redemption arc. I remember being glad that no matter how dissatisfied I felt with all of it that atleast momo got some kind of closure from it and from her but reading this now just pissed me the fuck off and the resolution was just complete bullshit. I’m tired. As much as I deeply sympathize with the mum on being assaulted being afraid of judgement or even acknowledgment for the violation she’d experienced and being forced to have a child u never wanted. Even the resentment she grew to have for him I can understand… all that goes out the fucking window the moment she let momo get raped and not only not stopping it after finding out but also then enabling it. That is insane and there will never be any explanation plausible enough to justify it which is what the arc with the mum was really about. The audacity to seek the victim of ur abuse bcoz u want to finally redeem urself and ease wateva guilt u might have after being a pivotal figure in the rape and destruction of ur child is disgusting and selfish. Everything about this irks me. I actually stopped reading things from harada coz it was fucking me up badly. The skill to portray assault in such realistic and deplorable ways and to immediately dismiss it like it’s neglible still triggers me bad bad coz it perfectly mirrors the dismissal such things are often given in real life and the fact that she often used it as a plot device was just maddening like if anything the reread just further reinforced my opinion of her works
Rereading this as an adult is hilarious. It always irked me when I was younger how in none of her works the rape is never properly acknowledged or addressed and I know with this reread that I liked this so much back then coz it was the first time she somewhat let her characters actually properly express their trauma of experiencing that kinda trauma even though it was used as a by the way explanation to further the mother’s redemption arc. I remember being glad that no matter how dissatisfied I felt with all of it that atleast momo got some kind of closure from it and from her but reading this now just pissed me the fuck off and the resolution was just complete bullshit. I’m tired. As much as I deeply sympathize with the mum on being assaulted being afraid of judgement or even acknowledgment for the violation she’d experienced and being forced to have a child u never wanted. Even the resentment she grew to have for him I can understand… all that goes out the fucking window the moment she let momo get raped and not only not stopping it after finding out but also then enabling it. That is insane and there will never be any explanation plausible enough to justify it which is what the arc with the mum was really about. The audacity to seek the victim of ur abuse bcoz u want to finally redeem urself and ease wateva guilt u might have after being a pivotal figure in the rape and destruction of ur child is disgusting and selfish. Everything about this irks me. I actually stopped reading things from harada coz it was fucking me up badly. The skill to portray assault in such realistic and deplorable ways and to immediately dismiss it like it’s neglible still triggers me bad bad coz it perfectly mirrors the dismissal such things are often given in real life and the fact that she often used it as a plot device was just maddening like if anything the reread just further reinforced my opinion of her works