Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Revenge

I am so lost I don't even know what to rate this book. did I enjoy it? I don't think feeling disturbed and puzzled can count as having fun. not in my case anyway. but is it a good book? I mean, yes. it's definitely well written, and the way the individual stories can be read as standalones but are somehow related to one another is pretty genius. but honestly what the actual heck.

Content Warnings

kkulhannie's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

surlyjackson's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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szuum's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

samdalefox's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

I adored this short story collection. I have previously read Ogawa's 'The Memory Police' and I'm delighted that I enjoyed her short stoies just as much. Her writing style remains easy to read, engaging, vivid, ordinary yet disturbing. Her work is the best example of magical realism and speculative fiction that I've come across. It's captivating to read.

This was sooooo close to being 5 stars. I'm still torn over it. If StoryGraph hadn't implemented the 0.25 increments this would definitely by rated as 5 stars. The reason I didn't score it full marks, was I think the last two stories 'Tomatoes and the full moon' and 'poison plants' let the collection down a little bit. The connected, convoluted, unreliable story within a story technique was exhausted and a little confusing in these last two stories. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed spotting the connections and imagery between the stories. I think it's rare for short story collections to feel cohesive, and 'Revenge' certainly does that as it layers stories and characters on top of each other like pages of surreal translucent OHP acetate.

List of the stories in the 'Revenge' collection: