Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

22 reviews

bessadams's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Damn there were some hard-hitting truths cooked into the story in this one. I saw a negative review of this book that criticized that the “alien book” wasn’t about aliens, and I have to wonder how someone can so entirely lack reading comprehension. As most alien books are, at their core, this book was about humans, in all their wonderful fucked up glory. It was about social media and how, like humans, there are two sides to that coin. It’s about fame and what it makes people do. And it’s about April, who is seriously seriously flawed. Just like everyone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Gore, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia and Grief

rory_john14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, and Outing

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

the_escapist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia and Police brutality

charlereads's review against another edition

funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

hpfan9501's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Biphobia, Body horror, and Blood

lily1304's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma

Minor: Biphobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol

An act of terrorism, but not described in explicit detail

scruffie's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An absolutely remarkable book. Loved the plot, loved the writing style, couldn't stop once I started reading it. Five stars from me, without any reservations whatsoever. I hope the second book in the series is just as good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Medical content

eamily's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Sexual content, Excrement, and Classism

empathephant's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

So the first time I read this I ate it up. I was sick, it was like a two day read, and all I cared about was the plot and the mystery. At times I kind of rolled my eyes a little bit as I thought Hank was definitely using the book to insert some vlogbrothers-style essay musings on life, which, while interesting pulled me out of the story a little as the voice felt more like Hank than the narrator. But I liked it enough to immediately suggest it as a book I could read aloud to my husband.

In forcing myself to slow down and read it I realized that I never really bonded with the characters. April is kind of annoying as hell. She has "flaws", but they don't seem to get in her way nor does she ever grow past being an impulsive entitled asshole towards people she theoretically should care about. And while the cast is "diverse," they are all gorgeous, ridiculously smart/talented women. Which doesn't feel relatable to me. These people are becoming more and more famous and are literally never self-conscious? Never think about their bodies? Maybe I'm wrong and most women around me are shining beams of confidence in every moment, but...

All of that said, I'd still recommend this book. I think many of its flaws are ones that can easily be ascribed to a first time author who had a pretty quick avenue to getting published, and Hank has an amazing imagination and I can't wait to see him grow as an author. And even more importantly, this book is super timely in the questions it makes you ask yourself about society, politics, and the dynamics of healthy debate on the internet. The idea of

The Dream

was delightful, and I loved every moment I got to spend in it. I grew from reading the book despite not connecting with the characters, which to me says the ideas it contains are pretty smart.

(Also, I'm finding the second book a lot better in terms of character development, and it has a compelling story, so it's worth it to read this just to get to that.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia and Toxic relationship

The final chapters contain some pretty graphic and intense descriptions of

fire, kidnapping/imprisonment, attempted murder, and severe injury

though at least the book does warn when it is going to discuss those things.