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jabberwalky's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Infertility
rzh's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
oh.....my goodness this was a lot. intense, brooding, sad, mysterious... took me a while to get into the sort of conversational style its written in, but once i was in i was IN. the book somehow reminded me a bit of jane eyre? maybe the POV, the "stages" it is in, the reflection on a past life in a boarding school and the constant sense of foreboding and mystery all the way through. maybe its a personal thing but i found the whole mystery of the novel quite frustrating at times. i know that was really the point of the book, but it just felt like cathy was going to reveal a bit more every so often, and then she'd just change the subject, which left me feeling a bit short changed by all the parts that went unanswered. like...... if the other teenagers at the cottages weren't from hailsham, where did they come from? if they were from similar schools, why were they so mystified by the hailsham students? were the carers allowed to be part of society before being called up to being donors, or not? what is the whole system around leaving the cottages, who is the "they" who enforces the rules around carers and donors, why are we never introduced to them? i know we get reintroduced to miss emily and madame at the end, but surely there were other forces at play? all in all a really gorgeous book: not the kind of thing i'd usually read, but would be up for reading another by ishiguro some point soon. 4.25 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
schmitzy_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Trafficking
madarauchiha's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
โค๏ธ ๐งก ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ my about / byf / CW info carrd ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐งก โค๏ธ
It's very melancholy, not v hard into the scifi / medical aspects, irritatingly monologue prone, quite dreamy. Can get boring.
In a word, this book can be described as staid. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's almost autobiographical. No rating as I didn't connect with the book, but it's well written and would be appreciated by others.
content warnings:
minor emetophobia, NSFW, death, child death, pedophilia, child abuse,
medium eugenics, peer abuse / bullying, sexual content, body horror, gore, medical content, medical abuse,
It's very melancholy, not v hard into the scifi / medical aspects, irritatingly monologue prone, quite dreamy. Can get boring.
In a word, this book can be described as staid. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's almost autobiographical. No rating as I didn't connect with the book, but it's well written and would be appreciated by others.
content warnings:
minor emetophobia, NSFW, death, child death, pedophilia, child abuse,
medium eugenics, peer abuse / bullying, sexual content, body horror, gore, medical content, medical abuse,
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Sexual content, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Death, Child death, and Child abuse
nepheloma's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is a very interesting book that I personally interpreted as an allegory for the course of life. The main question it focuses on is: why do we do anything if there's no hope, or at least nothing more than this life, in the end? It's basically a reflection on the absurdity that characterizes our existence through the experiences of three very, very human characters. They are all very flawed, sometimes even to an aggravating extent, but I found it kind of comforting how openly their flaws were explored and how they kept being connected, not despite these flaws, but even alongside them. What I personally realized through this book was that we keep on living life because that's the core of our humanity: to create and to exist, no matter how absurd our existence might really be. We're not different from the students at all -our existence is a path straight towards death, just like theirs. But we keep carrying on, because what matters is that we live until we die.
I think that the only thing that I didn't enjoy very much was the writing style of this book. I do understand that it is designed to reflect that the story is told orally, but I found it repetitive. Sometimes, there was foreshadowing that was too obvious or even repeatedly mentioned, which made me feel that the set ups the writer wanted to create were a little not too strongly built. At times, I also found the narration somewhat emotionless, especially in the beginning of the book, but even though this bogged me, I have to admit that it did contribute to the general morose, yet hopeful, atmosphere that the book had.
I think that the only thing that I didn't enjoy very much was the writing style of this book. I do understand that it is designed to reflect that the story is told orally, but I found it repetitive. Sometimes, there was foreshadowing that was too obvious or even repeatedly mentioned, which made me feel that the set ups the writer wanted to create were a little not too strongly built. At times, I also found the narration somewhat emotionless, especially in the beginning of the book, but even though this bogged me, I have to admit that it did contribute to the general morose, yet hopeful, atmosphere that the book had.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
catol's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infertility, and Grief
I took this book to empathise with child laborers and the clients of their labour. It made me reflect on my views of humanity, how to take action. This book was a personal insight into being born in a situation where your future is a second thought and comes after you have escaped the system that ties you to poverty, unless you donate all the labor you have to give until you die. This book gave an insight into the atrociously inhumane treatments neoliberalism has created. I understand
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