Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

20 reviews

renpen's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

bookworm_ran's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Vomit

spineofthesaurus's review

tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Racism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Torture, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Stalking, Abandonment, Murder, Classism, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Slavery, Vomit, Addiction, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Trafficking

Minor: Car accident, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

wyabook234's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, and Violence

seullywillikers's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? No

4.0

Okay, so I LOVE this book. The atmosphere, the tension, the ambiguity, it is an absolute fever dream. In a similar style to Yoko Ogawa's "The Memory Police" this story gets more and more crazy, more and more intense, more and more psychedelic, until it hits an abrupt end, not answering any of the questions that it asked. What happened to Bethany? Who was the body buried in the woods? Was the entire town in on it? What was the experiment about, really? What was up with the animals? What happened to the rest of the test subjects? Why did the 'observers' behave the way they did? Why did the lake get poisoned? What is up with the three different Judys? What permanent effects will this have on Lena? Was that what happened to Deziree?

This is an ambitious story that wonders about the lengths that the poor and oppressed will go through to protect and save their families, while exploring the history of government experimentation on Black and Indigenous people.

It would be hard to recommend this to someone. Not everyone will like it, enjoy it, or understand it. I'm not sure that I understand it, really. People who don't enjoy it still may find it profound. I'm glad that I've read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Cancer, Medical content, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

bitterseason's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Stalking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

dalmavatai's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the writing and character development in this book, I loved Lena & just wanted everything to work out for her. Towards the end it got pretty confusing which I didn't love but I think that was the purpose of the book, it just didn't perfectly align with my reading tastes. A solid medical horror though with very important & well executed commentary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Medical trauma, Racism, Violence, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror and Cancer

helhas3letters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Very readable. The plot hooked me completely and despite a few awkward turns of phrase, I raced through this one.
My main gripe, however, is that I felt the ending was rushed and left too open-ended. I wanted more concrete answers and explanations as to why half the events in the book occurred. I understand that a lot of modern fiction leaves things up to interpretation for the reader, but in this case it felt less 'up to interpretation' and more 'couldn't be bothered thinking of specific reasons why specific things happened'.
The ending was also unfortunately semi-spoiled for me by a way too on-the-nose and frankly reductive pull quote on the cover of the book. It was from Essence and read:

"Reminiscent of Jordan Peele's terrifying film Get Out."

If you've read the book, you'll know what I mean when I say that reading that quote essentially told me the entire ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Gore, Death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Stalking, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

mandi_lea's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Racism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Gore

mraddd's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Racism, Physical abuse, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Murder

Minor: Grief