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maddie_can_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
5.0
The first few chapters were a lot sadder than I expected and I cried 3 times and I don't normally cry for books.
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Infidelity, and Suicide
torismazarine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, Child death, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Medical content
Moderate: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Dementia
Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Classism, and Murder
clairewick4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Terminal illness
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
augie_'s review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Child death
Moderate: Medical content, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, War, Violence, and Xenophobia
softanimal's review against another edition
Graphic: Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Car accident
lpdx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Vomit
ashleygude's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Suicide
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