Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

34 reviews

hannahvlfnt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, War, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

sketchydelusion's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Sexism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Domestic abuse, War, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, and Colonisation

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

Just eerie vibes the whole time but I would expect nothing less from this man

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Animal death, Child death, Murder, War, Colonisation, and Genocide

mog261's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: War

Minor: Suicide

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Suicide, and Animal death

Minor: War, Violence, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

wenona66's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hey siri, a pale view of hills ending explained 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Suicide

katysimpson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The writing in this book is just incredible. Although it requires some patience due to the repetitiveness of the characters dialogue, the pace of the narrative is so cleverly crafted. One of those books that will leave you thinking for a long time afterwards.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, and Suicide

Minor: War

enbyemu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book has so many layers and I LOVE it. A surprisingly eery read. I saw one reviewer say it was a ghost story but the narrator/protagonist didn't know it and I thought that was a perfect description.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Child death

Minor: Suicide

elderlingfool's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is about a Japanese woman named Etsuko that is currently living in England and dealing with the suicide of her oldest daughter. The story is mostly about Etsuko’s memories from when she lived in Nagasaki and became friends with a woman named Sachiko. It addresses the struggle of rebuilding a life after the war and how much it changed the values of the people.

I really liked the dream-like quality of the writing style as the main character remembers her past and the themes addressed like the traditional Japanese values vs the new ones, memory, suicide, motherhood and marriage. I found the characters complex and unlikable, which made them interesting to follow. I also loved the parallels between the lives of the two women.

This is a novel that can have various interpretations and it’s great for discussion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny

sadiaa's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It's easy to read but like most Japanese novels, nothing really happens.  The pov changes throughout the book to the past when estuko was pregnant and had spent the summer with Mariko and her mother, to the present when estuko is dealing with the suicide of her daughter kieko.

Mariko is kieko, it's just brushed over with no explanation

. It's a shame that the ghost woman storyline was not explored more, whilst we find out who the woman was, there's no resolution. Ultimately the book ends with us feeling sorry for estuko as the book ends with her being left alone.
Despite this I enjoyed the book and will be reading more from Ishiguro.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: War