Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

23 reviews

ireadtoescape_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Cancer

kather_doc's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Confinement, Classism, Body horror, and Blood

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to love this. It was an addictive read that fell flat for me. As stated in previous comments, I believe this would have been perfect as a novella, but as a full length novel it was lacking substance and depth, and was incredibly frustrating. 

There were a few moments that could have been pure horror, but Lena's need to be detached and emotionally void dampened the effect, which was disappointing. 

I'd recommend as a conversation starter for a book club, or someone looking for a truly interesting concept written as a "stuff happens" sandwich. It begins, stuff happens, then it ends. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Racism, Cancer, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Confinement, Blood, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Terminal illness

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Racism, Self harm, Physical abuse, Torture, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Stalking, Abandonment, Murder, Classism, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Grief, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Slavery, Vomit, Addiction, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Trafficking

Minor: Car accident, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

jkpiowa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Confinement, and Medical content

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racism, Cancer, Grief, Body horror, and Gun violence

seullywillikers's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Okay, so I LOVE this book. The atmosphere, the tension, the ambiguity, it is an absolute fever dream. In a similar style to Yoko Ogawa's "The Memory Police" this story gets more and more crazy, more and more intense, more and more psychedelic, until it hits an abrupt end, not answering any of the questions that it asked. What happened to Bethany? Who was the body buried in the woods? Was the entire town in on it? What was the experiment about, really? What was up with the animals? What happened to the rest of the test subjects? Why did the 'observers' behave the way they did? Why did the lake get poisoned? What is up with the three different Judys? What permanent effects will this have on Lena? Was that what happened to Deziree?

This is an ambitious story that wonders about the lengths that the poor and oppressed will go through to protect and save their families, while exploring the history of government experimentation on Black and Indigenous people.

It would be hard to recommend this to someone. Not everyone will like it, enjoy it, or understand it. I'm not sure that I understand it, really. People who don't enjoy it still may find it profound. I'm glad that I've read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Cancer, Medical content, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

bitterseason's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Stalking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

helhas3letters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very readable. The plot hooked me completely and despite a few awkward turns of phrase, I raced through this one.
My main gripe, however, is that I felt the ending was rushed and left too open-ended. I wanted more concrete answers and explanations as to why half the events in the book occurred. I understand that a lot of modern fiction leaves things up to interpretation for the reader, but in this case it felt less 'up to interpretation' and more 'couldn't be bothered thinking of specific reasons why specific things happened'.
The ending was also unfortunately semi-spoiled for me by a way too on-the-nose and frankly reductive pull quote on the cover of the book. It was from Essence and read:

"Reminiscent of Jordan Peele's terrifying film Get Out."

If you've read the book, you'll know what I mean when I say that reading that quote essentially told me the entire ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Death of parent, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Gore, Death, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Stalking, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

mandi_lea's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Racism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Gore

haylzno's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I think it had read this book rather than listened to it, I may have enjoyed it more. 
The cadence of the narrators speaking was...weird? For lack of a better word. Something about it was off and it took me forever to get over it (speeding it up helped) 

I will also say that I am not the target demographic for this novel, however I did enjoy the plot itself for the most part. But I also felt like I have been left with more questions than answers. 

That plot twist though. 

Holy moly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Racism, and Chronic illness