Reviews with content warning for Confinement - In the Lives of Puppets

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

41 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I found this dystopian, science fiction novel of the future disappointing.

It’s a novel of two halves: The first half has a setting of almost Edenic innocence, which the author tries to reinforce through a whimsical tone, rather immature humour and the MC’s crude, adolescent-level sexual attitudes. The first half seems more like a YA rather than adult novel. The second half, which begins with a sort of expulsion from Eden, is much stronger. The MC character learns the truth about the world and his place in it. The tone of the writing is more cutting, albeit lightened from time to time with more of same silly humour. Although in the second part the action is rather melodramatic and the outcomes are quite predictable, it does at least present all the characters with dilemmas to face.

Some interesting themes are explored – friendship, personhood, forgiveness, free will – but for me this is done from a pretty superficial, “progressive” point of view without a lot of nuance. I come away from the story with a feeling of melancholy, moral grubbiness and cosmic brutality.

Addendum: The ebook I read came with a prequel short story, “Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!”, which explores many of the same themes and I thought was more compelling than the novel.

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randeerebecca's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did because I felt like this author’s other books were good, but nothing to write home about. But this one. I loved it. So many feelings. Wonderful

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lonelylooper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad

3.75

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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4.75

Finished reading: January 14th 2024

"Sometimes, it's the smallest things that can change everything when you least expect it."

This book was one of my most anticipated releases last year, because there is something about the way T.J. Klune writes his stories that makes it SO easy to fall in love with both the characters and the writing. I admit that I was a bit worried that some people didn't seem to enjoy In The Lives Of Puppets as much as some of his previous releases... But thankfully I didn't end up being one of them. I knew that I was going to end up giving this story a high rating almost as soon as I started reading it. There is just something about the writing style that just works for me, and the author always does such a fantastic job creating the most wonderful, flawed and quirky characters... The cast in In The Lives Of Puppets is no different, and I loved spending more time with them. Rambo and Nurse Ratched are absolutely hilarious with their banter! It's true that there isn't really much happening in especially the first half, and I was expecting to have more worldbuilding with this strange world the story is set in. This is without a doubt a character-driven story, but somehow I didn't really mind the slightly weaker plot and lack of details. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I was completely charmed by both the writing and characters, and I was more than happy to just soak everything up and treasure every moment spent in their company. I could have done without the sexual innuendos and references, but as a whole I liked what the connection between Vic and Hap added to the plot. This story is pretty obviously a retelling of both Pinoccio and other classics, and I personally enjoyed spotting the different references. All in all, while In The Lives Of Puppets isn't my absolute favorite T.J. Klune book, I still had a fantastic time reading this story. These characters will stay with me for a long time!

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berodatheelf's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

This book made me sob fully on public transport... Twice! It's funny and sweet with heart wrenching moments. The characters were fantastic and very creative and the romance made me squeal so loudly. This is my first TJ Klune book and I look forward to reading more.
(Extra bonus points for writing a queer Retelling of pinocchio!)

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starsnstitchin's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This book was different than his other books, and had more (for lack of ability to think of a more clear word choice) "adult content," talking about genitals, pooping, and sex more than expected (and more than necessary or comfortable). The world building didn't make sense in some parts, which made it hard to get immersed in the story. It's painfully clear that the ace character was written from the perspective of a non-ace author. It's not the worst rep I've read, but it didn't feel like an actually ace character. The whole book was a bit of a let down, and the ending feels a bit loose and lacks a lot of desired closure, with some story elements that had been built up left hanging and anticlimatically unaddressed. It felt like the story was building up around something, but the something never arrived or got explained. The acknowledgements at the end by the author sounded very bitter, but made me wonder if the slightly out of tune feel to the book as well as the loose ending was because there's supposed to be something more to the book than we're given. Not his best work, but it did make me laugh at times, and it was enjoyable in parts.

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