Reviews tagging 'Death'

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

5 reviews

torismazarine's review against another edition

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

3.5


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bailey_the_bookworm's review

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dark emotional tense fast-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? No

4.5

This book broke my brain. I read it in a single sitting—I could not put it down once I started it. It’s disturbing, upsetting, fascinating, thought-provoking. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks 

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house_of_hannah's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

I couldn't picture these Kentukis as anything other than Furbys. Doesn't matter if it's described as a crow, bunny, or dragon, my brain says Furby.

I did end up overwhelmed by how many different POVs we are given here. Instead of being numbered, each chapter is titled with a town name. Some we only see once, others several times. We see new POVs almost right up until the end, so it would take me a few paragraphs sometimes to remember who the people are.

The first chapter is essentially what you first think is going to happen in a situation like this. Also, imagine my surprise when the first chapter is titled South Bend, which is only 30 minutes from my hometown, and a place I've been a million times. Definitely makes it more real, but that was one town the book only visited once.

We do get a variety of situations throughout the story, but I don't believe any of them are happy endings. Since there are so many POVs, it also feels like we are viewing the stories from a distance (maybe in our own Kentuki ?). For me I think I would have have been more interested in delving into some of these stories deeper, and understanding the characters a bit more, instead of having some of the one off POVs.

You definitely need to have a sense of disbelief going into this, as the entire concept is something that just would not work in reality. The legality of it is extremely sketchy, security would be a nightmare, but all countries agreeing on something like this would just never happen. 

Overall this just ended up as an average read for me. I felt most of the POVs stayed too surface level, as the connections with the Kentukis would be cut right as things were getting interesting. There are two more books by this author that I am interested in reading though, so I will be checking out more of her writing. 

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savvylit's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

5.0

Each chapter of Little Eyes features a perspective of either a kentuki keeper or dweller. What follows is possibly the best fictional take on human nature on the Internet. Kentukis serve as the perfect symbol for fully-online parasocial relationships. The concept of a kentuki seems exaggeratedly far-fetched at first -- who would want to let an anonymous stranger into their home in the form of a moving camera? However, how different is that from extremely online folks who chronicle most of their days for viewers? I'd say not very. Kentukis are the perfect vessel for Schweblin to explore socializing in the digital age and all of its motivations and consequences. Distilled to its essence, Little Eyes is an expertly crafted meditation on loneliness, voyeurism, cruelty, and projection.

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horizonous's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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