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st_ender's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Animal death, Medical content, Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Medical trauma and Body horror
Minor: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cancer, Pregnancy, Body shaming, and Suicide
Extensive discussion of euthanasia, and anything that can possibly happen to a person once they die.sgrunwald96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Cancer, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
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I think the biggest unbelievable aspect of that storyline, though, and maybe this is my own cynicism, is that corporations would be focused at all on healing the planet is laughable. It’s lovely that Nagamatsu could picture a world where humanity and our survival was more important than profits, but even in his story currency still exists, and there were still the messages of classism throughout the book.
Again, now that I know the ending, Clara’s behavior is so clear. I guess that was foreshadowing. I liked being surprised by the ending but I also think the story would have been so much better to follow Clara as the thread of each story and understand her motivation more.
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Medical content, Child death, Death, Cancer, and Suicide
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Classism
ariep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Racism, Classism, and Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy
purplatypus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Body horror, and Suicide
Minor: Pregnancy
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Grief, Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Chronic illness
yogomagpie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death
arlaubscher's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Body horror, Medical content, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Dementia, Confinement, Mental illness, Gore, and Infertility
victoriafrombookclub's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Grief, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content, Body horror, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Cancer
Minor: Pregnancy, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Murder
syinhui's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I am astounded by how imaginative and tragic this book is while at the same time incredibly thought-provoking, hopeful and even intimate. The prose is rich and beautifully written and at times jarring by how death is normalized, by how death had become a way of life. I must say this is an awfully tough book to read, one I had to steel through by how devastating and hard hitting each stories are. The themes of death and grief are all over the pages, one chapter after another.
The prescience in 30,000 years beneath a Eulogy left me terrified. I was sobbing at the end of Pig Son. I've had some questions regarding the science and possibility of a micro singularity, the sudden leap in space technology which enabled an expedition expected to last for thousands of years and how exactly was the plague cured. And then the final chapter blew me away.
However, some of these stories were just a slightly different version of the other (about people estranged from their families, falling in love with a dying patient/client) and for a book about pandemic, I don't quite understand the choice for a wholly Japanese American cast of characters. Sure, it's interesting but it feels limiting and a bit ridiculous that we mostly get to see the aftermath from their perspectives.
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Cursing, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror and Cancer