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emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Sexism, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Terminal illness
maeverose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
TL;DR: As other people have said, this isn’t so much horror as a book about grief with horror sprinkled throughout. I was interested to see what would happen the whole way through and I do tend to like books about grief, but in the end am left feeling overall ‘meh’ about the book.
A note on the horror elements for those worried about it:
If you’re especially bothered by body horror, gore, or themes of going insane I would go in prepared for that if you plan on reading it. I’m not a horror reader and I dislike reading those themes, but most of this book was fine for me (check my content warnings section for which parts to skip if you also dislike these themes but want to read anyway. You can’t really skip the ‘going insane’ stuff unless you just don’t read any of Leah’s chapters, but you’d be missing out on some parts of the story then). That being said, you know what your own limits are best. I have a moderate tolerance for gore in books and I’m rarely bothered by non-gory body horror. If you have a low tolerance overall, I’d probably skip it.
Now on to my thoughts:
(Vague/minor plot spoilers, but not really since this is not a plot-focused book)
I liked the way the Centre was depicted as this mysterious corporate entity, and wish that was explored more, as well as
On that note, I’ll end with some quotes about grieving missing loved ones that I liked:
“-grieving was complicated by lack of certainty, that the hope inherent in a missing loved one was also a species of curse.”
“In almost every case, the sense of loss was convoluted by an ache of possibility, by the almost-but-not-quite-negligible hope of reprieve.”
“Grief is selfish: we cry for ourselves without the person we have lost far more than we cry for the person - but more than that, we cry because it helps. The grief process is also the coping process and if the grief is frozen by ambiguity, by the constant possibility of reversal, then so is the ability to cope.”
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Dementia
Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Vomit, Cancer, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Lesbophobia and Fatphobia
There are depictions of people gradually losing their mind in confinement,amberacademia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Misogyny, Body horror, Death, Confinement, Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Eating disorder
cecinamo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is, I think more of a metaphor and things do not get explained.
I still really enjoyed reading it. Especially the submarine chapters were super interesting yet also kind of scary and haunting. The end made me cry though >^<.
Graphic: Grief, Confinement, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, and Medical content
ellenisntcool's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
2. Please check the trigger warnings for this one!
Graphic: Body horror and Confinement
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism