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afterplague 's review for:
Confessions
by Kanae Minato
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Confessions had been relentlessly recommended to me on social media, so obviously I was very interested to discover what all the hype was about. It was also extremely popular at my local library with a long wait, so again, the hype built. Unfortunately, I think all this hype building had a negative effect on my feelings surrounding this book.
Confessions is about a teacher Moriguchi whose four year old daughter who was recently found dead in the pool of the middle school where she teaches. It's ruled a tragic accident, a simple drowning, but Moriguchi knows that all is not as it seems. She quits her jobs as a teacher, but delivers one final lecture to her class, telling them that two amongst them are killers. The teacher has already enacted her revenge, and it will have deadly consequences.
Confessions is written is a style I really didn't enjoy. It was almost a pseudo-stream of conscious style with long non-sequiturs that actually do hold importance to the story as a whole. On one hand, the small breadcrumbs that are planted throughout this lecture are fascinating in retrospect, but on the other, it makes the reading experience a bit frustrating, confusing, and boring. I'm reading pages upon pages about the middle school's milk program, and I'm wondering when the plot is actually going to start. It doesn't erase the feelings of frustrating when it's revealed that the milk held some importance to the story.
This is also a multi-POV story with most parts belonging to a different character. The teacher, each of the killers, one of their classmates, and one of their mothers all give their perspectives about the murder, but also some of their lives before and after the teacher's revenge. The perspectives of the killers are both very interesting, and their psychology does deserve to be explored. One of them is an incredibly smart student who is acting out to try to get the attention of his mother who abandoned him to start a new family. The other is a student who has never felt exceptional at anything, and would do anything to make connections. Neither of these students truly get what they want, and the murder of Moriguchi's daughter moves them farther from their desires. It's a compelling aspect of the story.
Unfortunately, these sections become very repetitive extremely quickly. The story is told and retold to us by both students, and the consequences are told and retold not only by the students but by those around them as well. A tiny bit of information is added each time, and there is value in simply being inside the character's heads to view their thought about information we already knew. I just don't think these small pieces of the puzzle are enough to justify the page count.
I liked the ending. Moriguchi is a very calculated person who understands exactly what it would take to truly torture the students that killed her daughter, and her patience in executing her full plan is impressive. She's not above letting others be harmed in her pursuit of justice, or even harming them with her own hands. Her coldness was interesting because she's rather emotionless in her revenge, too.
Confessions was fine, but unfortunately that's all it was. I didn't experience this brilliant masterpiece that everyone was talking up, and I had hopes for a story with a little more tension. Many of the events felt extremely matter-of-fact, and the writing was very bare bones in terms of description, atmosphere, and imagery. I would recommend Confessions if you want an interesting character study about the social consequences of murder outside of the law, but be warned it's not an "exciting" story.
Confessions is about a teacher Moriguchi whose four year old daughter who was recently found dead in the pool of the middle school where she teaches. It's ruled a tragic accident, a simple drowning, but Moriguchi knows that all is not as it seems. She quits her jobs as a teacher, but delivers one final lecture to her class, telling them that two amongst them are killers. The teacher has already enacted her revenge, and it will have deadly consequences.
Confessions is written is a style I really didn't enjoy. It was almost a pseudo-stream of conscious style with long non-sequiturs that actually do hold importance to the story as a whole. On one hand, the small breadcrumbs that are planted throughout this lecture are fascinating in retrospect, but on the other, it makes the reading experience a bit frustrating, confusing, and boring. I'm reading pages upon pages about the middle school's milk program, and I'm wondering when the plot is actually going to start. It doesn't erase the feelings of frustrating when it's revealed that the milk held some importance to the story.
This is also a multi-POV story with most parts belonging to a different character. The teacher, each of the killers, one of their classmates, and one of their mothers all give their perspectives about the murder, but also some of their lives before and after the teacher's revenge. The perspectives of the killers are both very interesting, and their psychology does deserve to be explored. One of them is an incredibly smart student who is acting out to try to get the attention of his mother who abandoned him to start a new family. The other is a student who has never felt exceptional at anything, and would do anything to make connections. Neither of these students truly get what they want, and the murder of Moriguchi's daughter moves them farther from their desires. It's a compelling aspect of the story.
Unfortunately, these sections become very repetitive extremely quickly. The story is told and retold to us by both students, and the consequences are told and retold not only by the students but by those around them as well. A tiny bit of information is added each time, and there is value in simply being inside the character's heads to view their thought about information we already knew. I just don't think these small pieces of the puzzle are enough to justify the page count.
I liked the ending. Moriguchi is a very calculated person who understands exactly what it would take to truly torture the students that killed her daughter, and her patience in executing her full plan is impressive. She's not above letting others be harmed in her pursuit of justice, or even harming them with her own hands. Her coldness was interesting because she's rather emotionless in her revenge, too.
Confessions was fine, but unfortunately that's all it was. I didn't experience this brilliant masterpiece that everyone was talking up, and I had hopes for a story with a little more tension. Many of the events felt extremely matter-of-fact, and the writing was very bare bones in terms of description, atmosphere, and imagery. I would recommend Confessions if you want an interesting character study about the social consequences of murder outside of the law, but be warned it's not an "exciting" story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment
Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Murder