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apthompson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Blood, Death, Animal death, Body horror, and Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, and Sexual assault
hannah_and_her_stories's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Confinement
Moderate: Grief, Rape, Infidelity, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
Minor: Dysphoria, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual content
carolinalopezwatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Minor: Animal death
miak2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
"How does it feel to remember everything? To have everything that the rest of us have lost saved up in your heart?" p.85
What a unique concept for a dystopia book - objects are disappearing, but not in a literal sense. If hats disappear, it's not that they physically vanish, but any memories or knowledge of them disappears from the mind, and people go on about their lives as if hats never existed. I could tell that the concept gave Ogawa some difficulty too. After all, how do we imagine what it's like to not know music or books? Specifically, I recall that fruits disappeared, but Ogawa went on to mention them a couple of times in passing afterwards anyway.
That said, this book really explores one question: is it better to remember all the things you can no longer experience, or for it to be as if you never knew them at all? One is perhaps more fulfilling, but it comes with the risk of being discovered by the Memory Police. And the other, well, what sort of life is it when the objects you know are slowly dwindling down?
I liked that, alongside the main story, was a story that the main character was writing about a different kind of loss. It really put into words how the narrator felt trapped in her own body, even if she didn't appear to realize it. I also think it's very interesting that there aren't any named characters in the novel, the closest being the nickname R. Really makes you think...
The friendship between the old man and the main character was truly special. I loved every second that they interacted, and I really felt the familial love they had for each other. R, however... I liked what he represented, but I didn't feel particularly attached to him and I didn't care for the adultery storyline introduced with him.
I'm feeling mixed about the ending of the book. Without saying too much, it was a little underwhelming. But that's perhaps because I entered it with expectations for it to more closely resemble 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale. I think the ending was fitting for the story being told, albeit somewhat dissatisfying. Nevertheless, I think there's a lot of fantastic things about this book and I'm very glad that I read it!
Minor: Sexual content and Rape
kstericker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, and Police brutality
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
sassyshark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Confinement and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Eating disorder, Gore, and Medical content
darbo'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? No
5.0
The book has a slow start, and it may feel slow all throughout for some due to its mundane, everyday tasks, but it picks up eventually and just leaves you baffled and shocked at every turn. Especially so the ending. I truly love this and wholeheartedly recommend this to any dystopia and Orwell fans out there.
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Death
nila'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
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual content
wear_sun_screen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Body horror, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual content
Minor: Death