Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

27 reviews

nelli_lakatos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

โ€œ๐’ฎ๐‘œ๐“‚๐‘’๐“‰๐’พ๐“‚๐‘’๐“ˆ, ๐’พ๐“‰'๐“ˆ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐‘’ ๐“ˆ๐“‚๐’ถ๐“๐“๐‘’๐“ˆ๐“‰ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘”๐“ˆ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’ถ๐“‰ ๐’ธ๐’ถ๐“ƒ ๐’ธ๐’ฝ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘’๐“‹๐‘’๐“‡๐“Ž๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘” ๐“Œ๐’ฝ๐‘’๐“ƒ ๐“Ž๐‘œ๐“Š ๐“๐‘’๐’ถ๐“ˆ๐“‰ ๐‘’๐“๐“…๐‘’๐’ธ๐“‰ ๐’พ๐“‰."

A unique and inspiring tale of family, self-discovery, love and adventure.

In the Lives of Puppets was the most heartwarming and meaningful story that Iโ€™ve read in a while. I have grown so attached to the characters I wished them the best because they deserve everything. 

I highly recommend this masterpiece of a book to everyone!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

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! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

Please Note: TJ Kluneโ€™s โ€œThe House in the Cerulean Seaโ€ novel greatly affected my reading of โ€œIn the Lives of Puppets.โ€ THitCS uses the residential school system in Canada, as well as the Sixties Scoop (a genocidal event where Indigenous children were ripped from their homes and sent to white families and/or residential schools in an effort to destroy Indigenous families and culture), as a base for a light-hearted fantasy story. While I understand that inspiration can come from a number of points, this simplification is dangerous and ignorant of the ongoing generational trauma caused to Indigenous peoples. He has mentioned that this is where he got his inspiration, and to make that connection explicit and known, compares the books to the events, thus connecting the bookโ€™s theme of โ€œchildren needing loveโ€ to these disgusting and traumatic real-life events. 

Writing: 4.25โญ๏ธ/5 
Klune is a good writer. While many parts of this book seemed to oversimplify and overexplain certain obvious plot points, the overall writing and pacing of the story was extremely well-done. I enjoyed reading it.

Characters: 5โญ๏ธ/5
The characters are extremely cool. Listen, I wanted to not like the book, but the characters were incredibly well-written. I loved Nurse Ratched. I loved Rambo. And I really did love Victor and his unique perspective on the world. Personally, I really enjoyed that he seemed to be Autistic-coded, without making direct reference to him being a person with autism. I also really did enjoy the love interest, Hap, and his slow way of discovering his personality and humanity. 
Note: After some digging about Kluneโ€™s desire to make Victorโ€™s autism named and more significant to the theme, I really think that the sensitivity reader who pushed back against that version did a good favour. 

Plot: 5โญ๏ธ/5 
Oh, I really did love the plot. The Pinocchio-inspired story really worked well, and I enjoyed the references to the story without it seeming too heavy-handed, or at least not too heavy-handed for my tastes. I also adore a good slow start to a story, where it all builds to a great and final unspiralling of all the events we built up. Really well-paced and earned.

World 4.75โญ๏ธ/5 
The world is cool. Thereโ€™s a believability about how the robots remove humans to save the world. I loved the world the robots created, and their attempts to mimic humanity more perfectly โ€“ but they naturally misunderstand it a bit. The world felt clear and vibrant, though I would have loved a bit more clarity around the city. 

Who Should Read This Book? 
  • As someone who does not intend to read Klune again, I will not be recommending it to anyone.

Content Warnings? 
Murder, death of parent, death, grief, violence, gun violence, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, 

Post-Reading Rating:  4.5โญ๏ธ/5
I did really enjoy the book. I also really liked the ending.

Final Rating: 4.5โญ๏ธ/5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hfleur's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

throwback682's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional sad
  • 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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

keya_caivalur's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kaitlinwarwick's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

spootilious's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 
Read: September 11, 2023
 Title: In the Lives of Puppets
 Author: T.J. Klune
 Genre: Adult LGBT Fiction
 Rating: 3/5
 Review: 

I wanted to love this book so very much, however, Iโ€™m afraid that I simply liked it. The novel is cute with an edge of darkness to it but overall, a decent read.  The characters are lovable and unique and the storyline, while predictable, was entertaining. 

I suppose it fell a bit short for me for a number of reasons. The foremost being that Klune as shown us he can write better than this. While, House on the Cerulean Sea comes to mind, even the less fantastic novel Under the Whispering Door felt more enticing. That, of course, isnโ€™t to say that this book was bad but rather not as good. 

Much of the storyline felt forced, trying to fit into the Pinocchio retelling, and some of the dialog seems a bit clunky (and not due to the robots). This isnโ€™t to mention the strange obsession these robots had with sexโ€ฆ but that last bit might just be a me thingโ€ฆ. Not sure. 

Regardless, an overall decent book, though not one Iโ€™d read again and not one of Kluneโ€™s best. 

 


 Quotes: 

โ€œForgiving others could be difficult, but forgiving yourself can sometimes feel impossible.โ€ 

 

 

TW: Blood and Violence, Minor TW: Abandonment, Animal death, Body shaming, confinement, Death of a parent, Death, Dementia, Fire/Fire injure, Genocide, Grief, Sexual Content, Torture. 


Expand filter menu Content Warnings