Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Confessions by Kanae Minato

53 reviews

middleagedbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Whoa. What a ride. Such a unique, disturbing, well-written novel. The author did an amazing job conveying what goes on in the mind of a seriously depraved individual. 

The only reason I did not give this five stars may have been for the wrong reasons… some of the material honestly disturbed me and made me sick to my stomach. I had to put the book down a few times and watch something funny on TV, and try to find something to distract me or give me hope in mankind 🤣 I will take slasher horror films (or books) any day over something psychologically disturbing… the human mind scares me more than anything!! 

If you like psychologically disturbing books, you will love this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This is definitely a more uniquely written book. There are six chapters, with each one being told from a different perspective. The story is told in a rather matter-of-fact style, with us being told events from diary entries, a phone call, the character's themselves, and even a character's website. As each character shares their story we see the events through their eyes, so it does become repetitive in hearing the same information over and over again for some aspects. 

On the back of the book it is lauded for it's "shocking twists", but I really only viewed it as such with the ending. Everything up to that point doesn't really feel "twisty" to me, since we know from the beginning that we are dealing with troubled children, and that they did something horrible. However, I don't think this took away from the story for me at all. First and foremost it's a revenge tale, and I think it accomplishes that quite well. 

Overall, this is a very readable story that will keep you engaged and interested. I always love when a book has me so absorbed that I don't even realize I'm turning the page, or that time's passing by, and this book accomplished that 100%. I wouldn't go into this thinking there's some big mystery to solve. We know very early on what happened; it's mainly the exact motivations of the characters that are explored, and how that influenced what happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death, Medical content, and Pregnancy

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Well this one surprised me... every 10% or so I kept saying "how is this not over? what else could there be?!"

I went into this book knowing next to nothing and honestly, it might not have mattered if I knew . I was surprised again and again as we went on and as the layers were pulled back. There is a main event that triggers everything in this book and then we get 5 POVs that give us new information regarding the event. 

Even though it could have been quite repetitive it didn't feel like it at all. Also, there are some really interesting themes explored: revenge, motherhood, the responsibility of educators, guilt, misinformation, murder, fear, and so much more. I feel like this is a book that will definitely leave me thinking for a while. 

I'd highly recommend to anyone who is into psychological thriller with mind games and a revenge story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

kryten's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

WOW. When my friend recommended this book to me, I thought ‘Okay, it’ll be a dark but easy read’ and quickly bought it on my Kindle. I did not think I would feel so horrified throughout! Dark? Incredibly so. Easy? Very much so, in terms of reading it in one sitting or two, but not in terms of content or concepts covered 😳

I did not think it would come full circle to Moriguchi-Sensei, but it did! I did love the way the chapters were split into: The Saint (Moriguchi), The Martyr (Mizuki, who’s loved Naoki since the first grade), The Benevolent One (Naoki’s sister and mother), The Seeker (Naoki), The Believer (Shūya) and then back to The Evangelist (Moriguchi). I thought that change in perspective was so interesting and incredibly executed.

I did feel for every single one of the characters, even Naoki and Shūya, because the sense of worthlessness and mother issues are challenging 🥲

I would HIGHLY recommend this book, but be warned there are quite a few dark themes so it’s best to read when you’re in an okay place 🥺

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

tatianars's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

caseofspades's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death and Terminal illness

lilifane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

What a book! I was totally unprepared for it. All I knew about it was mentioned in the first half of the first chapter. And the rest of the book took me completely by surprise. 
It's dark and disturbing and heartbreaking and definitely thought-provoking. It shows that we don't really know what is going on inside the heads and lives of the people around us. Also, miscommunication and making assumptions based on prejudices can cause a lot of damage and heartache to a lot of people. Same as revenge or taking justice into one's own hands. 
I needed to get used to the writing at the beginning first, but after reading on I realized how masterfully plotted this book is. (And I love well plotted books) There were some minor details I didn't like, and I think the ending is not as powerful as the rest of the story. But all in all, I was pretty impressed by the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

theleppy's review against another edition

I thought I could get passed the child death part but the age of the child coupled with animal cruelty I couldn't do it. I liked how the story was written but I was getting upset by those things and got the feeling it would go too far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

windsinger's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood