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ba6a's review against another edition
2.0
ugh.. while the writing is beautiful and i can enjoy reading disturbing books about stories like this i just need it to be done with more complexity and nuance or else im just left questioning the point? a lot of this was very one note and id leave the difficult scenes sitting with my discomfort but missing the depth
trin's review against another edition
2.0
One of the things I liked about Ogawa’s short story collection [b:The Diving Pool|1337973|The Diving Pool Three Novellas|Yoko Ogawa|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266776677s/1337973.jpg|2542259] is how dark and twisted it is; with Hotel Iris, Ogawa raises the dark ‘n’ twisted stakes to such a degree that midway through I started whimpering and backing away and went to go hug a puppy. As in her other books, Ogawa’s use of language and her simple, elegant powers of description are gorgeously employed, but holy crap, dude: is this ever an unpleasant book! I really don’t recommend that people unfamiliar with Ogawa start here; build up a tolerance and then see if you are strong and brave enough. I am not.
umacertagabi's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
thegreatgabby's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
stephibabes's review against another edition
4.0
I had no real idea of the content of this until reading it. I was just interested in reading more Yoko Ogawa after being so enthralled by The Memory Police. And this sure is different!
That said, that eerie, nightmarish setting that Ogawa paints so well, was as oppressive and haunting.
That said, that eerie, nightmarish setting that Ogawa paints so well, was as oppressive and haunting.
mksana's review against another edition
3.0
Holy crap! This book was just weird. I was drawn to this book cuz I read Memory Police, was keen to read something from this author and wow this was disturbingly weird but her writing is soo captivating that I couldn't stop, I felt disgusted to read cuz we are following our main girl who is 17 yr old in a sadomasochistic relationship with a much older man but the writing so breathtaking. I will certainly be seeking out more of Yoko Ogawa's works!
sunflower_martha's review against another edition
2.0
As always, I just love Ogawa's writing style, but the story itself disturbed me greatly, so I couldn't really appreciate the book without being distracted by it. Maybe that's exactly the purpose, being so unsettling and that's possible, having read a lot by this author, but still it touched themes that are really hard to digest for me.