Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Lakewood

I picked this book up because I'd read and enjoyed The Women Could Fly last year, and was interested to see what else Giddings had written. It wasn't bad by any means, but I didn't enjoy it as much. I have a difficult time pinpointing what exactly my issue with it was. The characters were compelling, and I was invested in the setting, central problem, and mystery. I had no disagreement with the writing style or the pacing. It was just fine, and as much as I turn it over in my mind I can't articulate why it wasn't better.

This novel's strongest point were the characters, both Lena and her friends and family. I cared and worried about her, as I was watching her make mistakes that she knew were mistakes, yet felt desperate enough to pursue anyway. It was a disturbingly plausible situation, one that plays out — albeit with uncaring capitalism in place of conspiracy — all the time in this country. The experimental sections(for lack of a better term, if you know you know) were also very well-written, trippy and mind-bending but at the same time easily able to be followed. This story definitely put the psychological in the thriller, leaving you doubting every scene after a point.

If you're looking for an ending with answers, I'll be upfront with you: you're not gonna find any here. I personally thought it was a good ending, but it pretty much drops a bombshell on you and then leaves you hanging to form your own theory about what exactly happened. So, I recognize that's not everyone's cup of tea. After reflecting on it for a day or so, though, I found it to be appropriately horrific.

My interpretation was that the experiments would have continued, but for the fact that they got greedy and went too far. The water tasting bad? That was an experiment, but they made the mistake of testing not on their PoC test subjects but on the white residents of the town, which garnered the media attention that the previous protests against the experimental institute hadn't.

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ericaburns1's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Cool concept and themes. Unsatisfying ending with no real conclusion. No questions fully answered. I don’t necessarily want everything spelled out for me, but I wanted more to the end.

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emily's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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danielles_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A body is like outer space: The more you actively think about it, the smaller you feel, the more detached you feel from the business of living.

Lena’s grandma used to say the difference between us and them is they try as hard as possible to never think about us, and we have to think about them all the time.

I love this book, way more than I expected to. It packs such a punch in its commentary on racism, sexism, poverty, lack of healthcare access, capitalism, the corruption of the United States government and its history of unethical human experimentation, the dehumanization of marginalized peoples, etc… Seriously, this book has so many layers but if never felt overwhelming or forced since it just came naturally with the story Giddings was telling.

I really love Lena. She truly felt like a real person. Her love for her mother and how it was affected by her mother’s chronic illness was really powerful. I also liked seeing how her mother and grandmother compared in their views of the world and how they raised Lena. I especially liked Lena’s reflections on trying to come across as cute and kind and harmless as possible, both because of her experience as a Black woman, but also because of a lifetime spent caring for her ill mom. I was also glad to see the various relationships Lena had both before and after Lakewood, and it was great to see such a close female friendship with her and Tanya, and how their dynamic was affected by their different economic classes as well as the situation Lena was in. I also loved her sense of humor, and Giddings had the perfect timing of jokes vs tense situations vs deep reflections on society.

Lena imagining Dr. Lisa asking her kids at dinner how their school day went on a scale from 1 to 10, just like how she asked Lena, killed me 😭😭😭

I mean, any character that says, “Doesn’t it make you sad to think aliens would have all the same problems we do?” is one I’m gonna like.

The atmosphere was SO GOOD. It was tense and eerie and it felt like just waiting for the pin to drop.

Oh my GOD that scene with Bethany losing all her teeth was so uncomfortable and fucking visceral, I will never get over it. And how the other study participants could do nothing but stand there in shock as tooth after tooth fell out. And then how she was replaced by a woman who looked just like her. Oh my GOD. And then Mariah dying after taking the pill was by comparison so quick and sudden and shocking that led to everything turning upside down.

It felt like an American version of the show Squid Game, except more realistic (there was one scene in particular that especially reminded me of the show

when the observers watched that child kill her parents with a gun they apparently placed in her house and just responded like “hmm great results”. Oh my god!!!

). And even though some of the things that happened were a bit fantastical and over-the-top, the book remained grounded both via its commentary and Lena’s very understandable motivation for remaining in the study: her mother.

And wow, the ENDING! Some might consider this a spoiler, but others like to be warned: the ending is vague and doesn’t really explain anything. But honestly, I think it’s perfect. It also made the eerie atmosphere even more so, because we never know

who the other study participants were and whether they were real or not, or the purpose and history behind the study, or Deziree and Grandma Toni’s experience with the study, or what happened to the town after, or even whether anyone spoke out.

But we wouldn’t know that in real life either. Thank you to BookTuber My Name is Marines for her commentary on this book. She said that racism doesn’t have a neat and tidy ending, so it makes sense that this book doesn’t either. Life is more complicated than that, and this book is reflecting real life. And actual history can be scarier than fictional horror novels.

Do you think people really believe another person’s pain exists?

And the last line was stunning:

I will look at the brushstrokes, the sculptures gleaming under the light like well-tempered chocolates, the golden frames, black and white images of the long dead. I will force myself to remember, despite everything I know now, people are capable of making something wonderful.

Content Warnings

evelynritzi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.75

This was a trippy ride! I think it’s a love or hate it book. I found myself turning pages very quickly but I was a little dissatisfied with the pacing of the last 3rd and lack of closure. Upon reading other reviews and listening to a podcast with the author, I think that’s sort of the point. This story is about Lena first and foremost. We don’t know what’s happening outside of HER experience. So, when her memory is unreliable due to all the drugs, that’s all we get. You could even argue that the letters at the end are only read because she has died.

What I thought was especially compelling was how, unfortunately, the US has a very real history of exploiting our most vulnerable for experiments or research. Chemical spills do happen and pollute the water supply in rural areas without help from the government, I mean we’re witnessing it right now in Ohio. Generational trauma is real. People will do incredible things for family, and healthcare in our country is terribly confusing to navigate and debt is unbearable. It’s the truth behind the fiction that makes the book memorable and thought-provoking.

I also appreciated the humor the author gave to Lena’s character. The way she reacted to multiple micro-aggressions through the book, for example.

Despite ALL the confusion and lack of closure, I think I’d still recommend this to a friend because it will be fun to talk about and speculate about certain parts.

Here’s a paraphrased quote from the author about why the last part is in letter-format. It’s the unique experience of “having endured something deeply racist and the only thing you have to prove it happened is your story.”

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seullywillikers's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Okay, so I LOVE this book. The atmosphere, the tension, the ambiguity, it is an absolute fever dream. In a similar style to Yoko Ogawa's "The Memory Police" this story gets more and more crazy, more and more intense, more and more psychedelic, until it hits an abrupt end, not answering any of the questions that it asked. What happened to Bethany? Who was the body buried in the woods? Was the entire town in on it? What was the experiment about, really? What was up with the animals? What happened to the rest of the test subjects? Why did the 'observers' behave the way they did? Why did the lake get poisoned? What is up with the three different Judys? What permanent effects will this have on Lena? Was that what happened to Deziree?

This is an ambitious story that wonders about the lengths that the poor and oppressed will go through to protect and save their families, while exploring the history of government experimentation on Black and Indigenous people.

It would be hard to recommend this to someone. Not everyone will like it, enjoy it, or understand it. I'm not sure that I understand it, really. People who don't enjoy it still may find it profound. I'm glad that I've read it.

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Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

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evelynritzi's review against another edition

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emily's review against another edition