Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell

3 reviews

ashleye1023's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Really loved the writing in this book. Finished in 1 day! Got me thinking deeply about a lot of things. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Self harm, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-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

4.0

Banana pants, but like the intriguing kind? Also unsettling pandemic parallels considering this was published in 2014. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Addiction

savvylit's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Sleep Donation is - appropriately - a fever dream of a novella. With her characteristic lush & lyrical prose, Russell describes a world that is so near-real. I have always adored her ability to craft ethereal sentences and stories like no one else. Russell is a true modern master of magical realism if you ask me.

In many ways, the sleep extraction in this dystopia acts as an allegory for our real-world greed for & plunder of natural resources. As Trish wrestles with the ethics of convincing donors to give up their sleep, readers are forced to consider the ethics of their own extractivist lifestyles.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Terminal illness