Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Before I Let Go

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

6 reviews

brookey8888's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This was such a weird book. I was invested the whole time and wanted to know what happened and why everyone was such a freak. It is very open ended though and it is kind of depressing. I do not have bipolar disorder so I don’t know if the representation is good, but from what I know I think it was done fairly well. It was just so sad to me to see how the townspeople treated her. I also loved the asexuality representation in this. Overall I will probably never think of this again, but it was entertaining. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend because it’s just fine(even though I’m giving it a four). This was also sometimes told in a weird way which I didn’t understand. It was like a movie script for no reason for like 4 chapters.

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fancyfroggie's review

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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

3.75

i had no idea where this book was going for most of it, but i found it really intriguing and i liked having a bipolar main character

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

Atmosphere: 😐
The isolated Alaskan town is written as a cult, but isn’t. Apparently everyone is just REALLY REALLY obsessed with the town and has no identity apart from it. It’s an isolated town. Oh, did I mention it’s isolated?

Main POVs: 😐
-A high school senior who moved away very recently with her family but essentially grew up in the town returns for her best friend’s memorial. Almost all the people (including adults who helped raise her!) suddenly scorn her and say terrible things to her about not being one of them anymore (like, over and over and over in every encounter over the chapters contained within all six days).
-A high school senior with bipolar disorder was also dramatically shunned by the town, then suddenly exalted and everyone pretends that they always loved her and accepted her after her best friend moved away. She is a talented painter and has the ability to paint the future (or is it that her paintings come true…). She is believed to have committed suicide but was she forced/murdered? I thought that would be a main part of the book and explain the weird cult town suddenly happening but nope.

Growls and Howls: 🐺
The plot had promise and the writing style wasn’t an issue. The problem is that this book takes place over six days and each day is full of extremely repetitive chapters. The whole plot rapidly dissolves into:

Spoiler

the townspeople sort of confine the teen girl with bipolar disorder because she’s such a good painter and paints images of their town in the future that show it revived. They try to direct all her energy into painting for them. Her parents don’t step in to put a stop to it and even support it. The only thing that apparently prevented this from happening sooner was her childhood best friend…existing (?)…oh and this talented artist can make flowers grow in winter. That makes up the magical/speculative part but it was so shallow and not done well

. At the 20% mark I was hooked and enjoying the creepy town vibes, sharing the MC’s outrage of what happened to her friend and challenges that came with being her friend. By the 40% mark I was thinking “okay, even the most dense reader GETS it, stop having the exact same town-worship you’re-now-an-outsider conversation every chapter.

Show’n’tell: 🥱
Appropriate balance at first. Like bringing your crayon set to your first show’n’tell turn, then for every single turn thereafter.

Reading journey: 😑
Shivering at the bus stop in a snowstorm but the bus is within sight. Then it breaks down.

Vibes: 🥱😒🙄

Format: Library E-book via Libby

Content Warnings