Reviews

The Cleaners by Ken Liu

lifeamongpages's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

tlongtin's review

2.0

Of the four I have read so far this one and the troll one are my least favorites. Interesting concept but it pulled the reader in too many directions for a short story in my opinion.

petercsanadi's review

3.0

3.25⭐️

emmolingo's review

1.0

Je m'attendais à complètement autre chose et j'ai été vraiment déçue par ce livre. Il y avait quelques bons messages ici et là qui commençaient à prendre forme mais ça n'aboutissait jamais, c'est dommage ! Cette collection de livre était vraiment prometteuse mais j'enchaine les déceptions

aeonidon's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review

2.0

For some reason, this one didn't really grab me. The idea is great but there was something about the strucutre.

merlin_reads's review against another edition

3.0

 This one was an interesting take on memories and how we retain them. I've never read anything from this author but his writing had a very beautiful flow to it. It was very dreamlike which I guess fit the story. The story follows 3 different people: 2 sisters, one who wants to forget and one who wants to remember, and a shop owner who "cleans" the memories. The shop owner is the one who really got to me. He can't glean memories from objects like other people so when he loses a memory, he loses it forever and that weight just bears on him. I felt his loneliness and his sadness. It was definitely touching. 

livbrom88's review

2.0

This one was definitely better than the last one, but I'm still confused. As I was reading I definitely got some Black Mirror vibes and undertones solely because of the creativity of the problem and abilities of the MC. I liked the idea of how objects hold emotional weight and memories, but I was also kind of confused with he nuance and how the story was broken down with each character's part.

margie52's review

4.0

Rich, thoughtful

I was so delighted by this short story. The concept was intriguing, and while fantastical, held enough relation to real life that I could make connections to society—and myself—today. This was a book that really makes you stop and think.

francescazoec's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5