You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I did enjoy this book, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I just didn't love the movie so much. Which isn't entirely fair, but it's rare that a film adaptation is able to improve so much on the source material, so it feels worth mentioning. I did find our unlikeable protagonists interesting and even funny at times, which was a nice surprise. However, I find a controversial element of the secondary protagonist's backstory to be baffling and not necessary since it didn't amount to much, if anything, at all? That said, I find the premise to be uniquely terrifying and paranoia-inducing. The sheer sense of viewing something truly cursed is tangible, and it even permeates into the real-life reading experience. Looking forward to reading the other books in this series so I will have less pre-existing knowledge to color my biases.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A difficult read. What would have been an interesting concept was marred by the author's lack of care when writing about rape and abuse. Victim blaming, sexism, body shaming, objectification and misogyny take centre stage in this book. If any of these themes are troubling to you, I'd recommend skipping this and watching the movie instead. One of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Transphobia, Dysphoria
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Really enjoyed this book! I was pleasantly surprised at how different the story is from the American movie. The main idea is the same, but the setting, characters, plot, and all details are very different, and are much more interesting in the book. While I didn't like the way that women were portrayed in general (way too many casual references to r***), and a few other adjacent issues, it was hard for me to tell if those issues I didn't like were part of the narrative to flesh out the characters, or if it was included by influence of the Japanese cultural view of women. I could spend a lot of time discussing that, but I'll just finish by saying, since those issues only came up once in a while it was easier for me to overlook them and just enjoy the rest of this crazy thriller. It was very suspenseful, intriguing and mysterious. Not sure yet if I want to read the next in the series.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am doing a horror marathon for October, this was one of my first reads and the approach is fascinating. Most of the book is an investigation, there are no jump scares, this is all together almost in the science fiction realm with a dash of the supernatural. I'm not complaining, as an aspiring scientist myself I deeply approve of the authors approach, and I look forward to the next book in the series. Trigger warning: some dated concepts of gender, gender expression, being trans and intersex. He's no J.K. Rowling, but his concept of gender is understandably dated.
Main Character's Best Friend Is a Rapist
While I pretty much knew what to expect having watched the movie (it stayed pretty true to the book), there was enough in it that was different to make it worth having enjoyed both the book and the movie. Characters that originally left me feeling meh (the main) or disgusted (his buddy) managed to completely or possibly turn around in my opinion and facets of them were revealed at different times of the story. Honestly, very much worth the read.