Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

26 reviews

helhas3letters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Very readable. The plot hooked me completely and despite a few awkward turns of phrase, I raced through this one.
My main gripe, however, is that I felt the ending was rushed and left too open-ended. I wanted more concrete answers and explanations as to why half the events in the book occurred. I understand that a lot of modern fiction leaves things up to interpretation for the reader, but in this case it felt less 'up to interpretation' and more 'couldn't be bothered thinking of specific reasons why specific things happened'.
The ending was also unfortunately semi-spoiled for me by a way too on-the-nose and frankly reductive pull quote on the cover of the book. It was from Essence and read:

"Reminiscent of Jordan Peele's terrifying film Get Out."

If you've read the book, you'll know what I mean when I say that reading that quote essentially told me the entire ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Gore, Death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Stalking, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

mandi_lea's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Racism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Gore

haylzno's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I think it had read this book rather than listened to it, I may have enjoyed it more. 
The cadence of the narrators speaking was...weird? For lack of a better word. Something about it was off and it took me forever to get over it (speeding it up helped) 

I will also say that I am not the target demographic for this novel, however I did enjoy the plot itself for the most part. But I also felt like I have been left with more questions than answers. 

That plot twist though. 

Holy moly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Racism, and Chronic illness

lamorna's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Dementia, Confinement, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Grief

mar's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Confinement, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

liormaleficent's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Vomit, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Racism

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is such a layered novel. It was explained to me as being a horror book, and while there definitely are some horror-esque elements in here, I would argue that this is much more than that. It's a book about grief - beautifully, tragically described grief - and family and the lengths at which one would go to help a loved one out. The tragic thing about this book, of course, is that black people have been exploited for science in reality, and that, still, their illnesses are often not recognised, and the effects of some illnesses and medication on black people is still unknown. I loved that this book briefly talked about that, while still being a plot driven, enjoyable, non-preachy read. (Nothing against being preachy, I just think that this might be able to reach a broader audience because of it.) I saw the ending coming from miles away, but I didn't mind, however I did think it was a bit rushed. I guess I was waiting for something really big to happen, then all of a sudden it was over. 

One thing that I didn't love about this book is that I didn't trust the research study from the very beginning, and so I had to suspend my disbelief in order to go along with Lena's decision. I never would've participated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent and Confinement

Minor: Racism

bookreviewsgr's review

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

Ένα από τα πιο απολαυστικά ψυχολογικά θρίλερ! Λατρεύω τα θρίλερ που είναι ρεαλιστικά γιατί είναι τα μόνα που μου προκαλούν ανατριχίλες. Κι αν έχεις μια έστω κι επιφανειακή γνώση του τι έχουν περάσει οι Μαύρες γυναίκες στα χέρια λευκών γιατρών "στο όνομα της επιστήμης", τότε θα σου σηκωθεί η τρίχα με αυτό το βιβλίο πριν καλά - καλά ξεκινήσει η υπόθεση. 

Σε αυτό οφείλεται και ένα κομμάτι την επιτυχίας του βιβλίου. Ότι τόσο οι αναγνώστες όσο και η πρωταγωνίστρια γνωρίζουν όσα έχουν συμβεί στο παρελθόν. Οι αναγνώστες παρακολουθούν την Lena να μπαίνει στο φρικτό κόσμο του Lakewood χωρίς να μπορούν να κάνουν κάτι για να την αποτρέψουν. 

Από ένα σημείο και μετά, η Lena είναι αναξιόπιστη αφηγήτρια λόγω των όσων της συμβαίνουν. Δε μπορεί να εμπιστευτεί τη μνήμη της κι έτσι βρίσκεται να προσπαθεί να κατανοήσει τι συμβαίνει μέσω τρίτων. Αυτό το αφηγηματικό τρικ είναι από τα πιο αγαπημένα μου όταν γίνεται σωστά και εδώ η Giddings το έχει χειριστεί πολύ ωραία. Κάποιες φορές ένιωθα πιο χαμένη και από την πρωταγωνίστρια, κάτι το οποίο με ικανοποίησε, αφού αργότερα μου δόθηκαν κάποιες απαντήσεις. 

Κι ερχόμαστε στο τέλος. Αν δε σας αρέσουν τα βιβλία με ανοιχτό τέλος που δεν παίρνετε όλες τις απαντήσεις δοσμένες στο πιάτο, αυτό το βιβλίο δεν είναι για εσάς. Εμένα προσωπικά δε μου άφησε και πολλές αμφιβολίες για το τι συνέβη, αλλά ο τρόπος που το κλείνει η συγγραφέας αφήνει περιθώρια και για άλλες ερμηνείες. Εμένα, η μόνη μου απορία είναι ποτέ θα βγάλει η Giddings το επόμενο θρίλερ.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Body horror

Moderate: Racism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, and Cancer

cleater65's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was GRIPPING! As soon as I picked it up I couldn't put it down. It's complex in how many interwoven issues are covered, and alternates between uneasy and horrific. I am excited to read more of this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cancer, Murder, and Terminal illness

naimereadslines's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racism, and Vomit