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arayo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Confinement and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Death of parent
pyroclast17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
Minor: Body horror
paysleespages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Grief
readwithsophsx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
kittm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Police brutality
issymaae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Police brutality
Moderate: Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, and Rape
piratesarah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Body horror
kirkspockreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
apthompson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
“His soul is too dense. If he comes out, he’ll dissolve into pieces, like a deep-sea fish pulled to the surface too quickly. I suppose my job is to go on holding him here at the bottom of the sea.”
“People—and I’m no exception—seem capable of forgetting almost anything, much as if our island were unable to float in anything but an expanse of totally empty sea.”
This novel, in its Orwellian decent, presents a surveillance-state dystopian island, where collective loss is enforced, and those who remember are systematically destroyed by The Memory Police. This a highly personal and profound type of apocalypse. The plot is reminiscent of The Diary of Anne Frank, and other real life histories of safe houses in the face or persecution; it concerns a woman’s efforts to hide one of the people who remembers, someone she cares for, in a purpose-built annex under her floorboards.
While it is, in many ways, set up like a typical dystopian novel that deftly illustrates the insidious, dehumanizing claw of totalitarianism, the true power of this novel is how it moves past the political implications of a dystopia to the very real horrors of forgetting and the destruction to society and the self this causes. There’s a quiet tension that stalks the pages of the novel. The fear, claustrophobia and struggle feel real.
If you want to read a sci-fi book that explores the effects on the individual, then definitely pick this up.
rating: ★★★★
🗺️ Reading Around the World 2024: Japan 🇯🇵
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, and Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Grief
bucklace27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Confinement and Police brutality