Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Lakewood

So this book was very unsettling. And I was intrigued by that.
I was really drawn in by the plot as well.
But it all fell a little flat for me and I honestly struggled to finish it. There was no follow-through in most of these plot lines.

I also didn’t find myself connecting with Lena at all. I think her decisions and lack of suspicion for most of the book had me disconnecting from her. Especially in comparison to how her struggles at the beginning of the book really did pull at my empathy. She really was going through a lot and at first Lakewood made sense as a choice. Even when she had that eerie feeling it was mentioned once and that was that. But things just kept on going and going in this endless miasma of chaotic and alarming situations that I didn’t feel yielded much at all except to shock me as the reader. Nothing was resolved so it still makes no sense. The family history also didn’t go far enough to connect the dots.

I stuck it out but it wasn’t easy and I’m not feeling satisfied at all. Honestly, it was just an endless cycle of the experiments and their consequences to the people but to no specific end. I don’t know if it would have helped if the book was longer. But sadly, I couldn’t connect with it as much as I’d hoped.

Content Warnings

lillieslibraryy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

This was so disappointing. I enjoyed parts of it, but it left so many topics unexplored that would have added so much more to the plot. I feel it would have benefited from being a longer book, that way it could better explore the mother and grandmother's connections to the story and the medical research program.

When it came to the study the MC was participating in, it covered so many different aspects. We had psychological tests on the people, drugs and medications being tested on them and physical tests. There was also tests being conducted on children that we saw play out which was never fully explained. We also got a glimpse of different plants being made and saw talking animals (which I'm assuming aren't just animals). So many of these different experiments weren't explained or looked at deeper, I wish it had gone into more depth on what these were.

We also got hints at what the mother and grandmother had to do with the research studies, which was left very open ended. I wish we had more that explained their involvement rather than being left questioning.

The end of the book also felt very rushed and anticlimactic. I feel what happened in the end, was the government using it as a cover up to hide their experiments and draw attention away from themselves, I just wish it was built up more and explored a bit more.

I feel the way the book played out was very real for the character and reflected how she felt after everything and the lack of information she had access to. However, as a reader I wish we were shown more of what was going on as this left with me with unanswered questions, than answers.

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kather_doc's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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elwirax's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-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? No

2.0

An interesting exploration of themes and subject matter that were unfortunately overshadowed by the lack of character development and ability to connect with the characters due to the writing style. I thought that the book did very little in the way of exploring the the main characters psyche for a book that deals with harsh topics such as human experimentation, race inequality and the abuse of power. While the plot was intriguing, the pacing was slightly off and lacked any sort of climax or high stakes. This is particularly evident at the end where things are just happening and being discussed rapidly, leaving me with many unanswered questions.

Overall, this was not a bad book. Its focus on the evils and horrors of medical experimentation on Black bodies is important. However, the execution lacked the emotional impact such a story would warrant due to poor pacing and characterisation.

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