Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Removed by Brandon Hobson

9 reviews

trailmixraisins's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Genocide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Dementia, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Child death, Death, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

readingwithkaitlyn's review

reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Drug use, Gun violence, Dementia, Drug abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality, Suicide, Stalking, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Confinement, Alcohol, Addiction, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Genocide, Colonisation, War, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Car accident, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Fire/Fire injury

Trail of tears, f slur, s slur.

mbmayo's review

hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This book is told from multiple perspectives. I was moved by Maria's perspective of losing family to violence, drug addiction and illness. While Edgar's storyline became bizarre and the metaphors presented were quite overt, I still felt compelled by his story. The interjections from the spirit, Tsala, helped me step into a world filled with spirits. I found myself annoyed and confused by Sonya's story line. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Death, Addiction, Dementia, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Stalking, Colonisation, Drug use, Grief, Genocide, and Violence

Minor: Confinement and Racism

torturedreadersdept's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Murder, Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Police brutality, and Racism

cantfindmybookmark's review

challenging emotional relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Drug use

Moderate: Child death, Police brutality, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Confinement

colettesjourney's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Toxic relationship

leahsbooks's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

 I’m honestly not sure how to rate this book. I loved the premise of the story, but it just didn’t seem to carry over from concept to actuality. However, there were some parts of the book that were great. The way that the story addressed the effects of intergenerational trauma and incorporated it as a running theme throughout the book was done really well. 

 

I’m not familiar with Indigenous history (beyond the basics) or culture, and have only recently started reading some literature written by Indigenous authors. I loved seeing Cherokee history and mythology incorporated into the story, although it didn’t always feel as though these were integrated seamlessly into the rest of the story. 

 

While the story begins with a relevant and incredibly timely event, the unwarranted shooting of a young Cherokee boy by a racist cop, this seemed more for shock value, and played such a small role in the plot. Ray-Ray’s cause of death played such a small role in the story, and when it ultimately did pop up later in the book, it led to two ultimately unfulfilling confrontations. 

 

The entire story just felt underdeveloped and unresolved. There was a sense that so much more could have come out of this book, but it just never made the leap. The characters had potential, but wound up being bland. Sonja could have been quite an intriguing character, but fell into an obsessive romantic fantasy with underpinnings of … other, which wound up having a completely unrewarding outcome for both Sonja and me, as the reader. Edgar’s chapters just ramble incessantly at the beginning, with a strange fixation on the word “fowl,” for some reason. His trip into the Darkening Land wasn’t ever really fully explained, and it took a strange detour into magical realism with dark undertones that made less and less sense as the book went on. Maria’s chapters made the most sense to me, but even those felt like there should have been more. 

 

I felt the most connection to Maria, but overall, the book left me wondering about what actually happened. I devoured the book hoping for a sense of closure, but in the end, it wound up feeling … unfinished to me. I wasn’t expecting the book to have such overtones of magical realism, which isn’t a genre that I generally enjoy. So this could have contributed to my confusion about this book, but I’m still feeling confused and torn about this one. I think the idea was great, but it just didn’t really come through for me personally. 

 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Dementia, Grief, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Confinement, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Mental illness

darcyreadssometimes's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

4.5

This book was trippy, unsettling, and stunning. The story is told through multiple perspectives, with three from present day characters and one from Tsala, an important person in Cherokee legend. There is not a clear line between the spirit world and our world, and one of the characters struggles with drug addiction, so things are not always as they seem. This felt like literary fiction with splashes of horror. The ending had me feeling a little confused, sad, but also hopeful. I don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling anything, but I’ll leave this quote:

𝘞𝘺𝘢𝘵𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴.
“𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬.” 𝘞𝘺𝘢𝘵𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”

This was also my first read in my 2021 challenge to myself to read at least 12 books by Indigenous authors. Things I googled (and would recommend googling) to enhance my reading experience: the Trail of Tears, Tsala, and the Darkening.

While I don’t think this book is for everyone, I recommend it, especially to people who enjoy literary fiction, who like weird books, who appreciate morally grey characters, and who like seeking connections across seemingly disparate storylines.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

briwithabook's review

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

 This book focuses on the Echota family, and the way each family member experiences grief and is living their lives 15 years after Ray-Ray, their 15 year old son/brother was shot and killed by a police officer.

I had really high expectations for this book going in. It sounded extremely timely and like it would really be something I could connect with. Every adult has experienced grief at some point in their lives, and I was interested to see the way each family member handled the loss of Ray-Ray. However, I did not necessarily feel a connection to any of them. Maria, the mother and matriarch of the family, was the one for whom I had the most empathy. I felt sad for her and all that she endured. With one child gone, another addicted to drugs, and a husband suffering from Alzheimer's, she was surely dealing with a lot. I also liked Wyatt, but wish I had been given more of his story.

However, I found a lot of the book to be far-fetched and so strange that I expected certain storylines to be revealed as a dream or fantasy world. There were things that made no sense in a realistic world, and they were never explained in a way that was satisfactory to me.

And as much as I didn't connect with the story, I do actually think it should've been longer. I think that would've allowed the storylines to be more fleshed out and given the reader a better understanding and more complete picture of each character. It felt like so much was crammed into each person's story, but none of it really went any deeper than the surface.

While I liked the idea of interspersing Native American folklore into the story, I didn't feel like it was executed well. I actually found those chapters to be disconnected from the rest of the story. They almost seemed like "filler" and I didn't feel as if they tied into the overall plot of the book very well. I don't know if it just went over my head or if others will feel the same way.

Overall, I felt that the author tried to add in too many plot points without enough depth. It tried to cover a lot of important topics, but didn't give any of them enough exploration to be worthwhile. I also think that having Ray-Ray having been killed by a police officer served no real purpose in the story. He literally could have died any other way and the rest of the story could've been kept largely the same.

There was one plot point in Sonja (the daughter's) story, and one small encounter at the end of the book that tied into that part of the plot, but otherwise, it didn't really serve any purpose.

That all being said, I am sure that some people will love this book. It was a fairly quick read, and I did like that the chapters were short and we got to see things from each family member's viewpoint. I am admittedly not a very abstract reader, and too much of it was unrealistic for me to enjoy the book. 

I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Confinement, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Cancer, and Racism