Reviews

The Diving Pool, by Yōko Ogawa

alexarose19's review against another edition

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

4.5

pigeonpersona's review

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adventurous reflective relaxing sad medium-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

3.0

misssusan's review

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3.0

what an interesting flavour of creepy this is. someone less tired than me right now ought to write an essay on it. 3 stars

eyelit's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

manus_books's review against another edition

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

4.0

brimbooks's review

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.75

booktrunks's review

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3.0

I have read a heartfelt book about numbers, a heartbreaker about memory, a collection of spooky tales, but nothing prepared me for how Ogawa writes disturbing. At times, things actually got a little too uncomfortable for me, but I feel like that's just a tribute to how versatile of a writer she is. If someone who has never read from Ogawa were to read this book and then The Housekeeper and the Professor, they wouldn't believe it's the same author. I think my favorite of this collection was Pregnancy Diary, but all three were eerie and chilling tales! People who like to feel general discomfort for short periods should pick this one up!

cestmackenzie's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

rosiemichelmore's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

When we grow up, we find ways to hide our anxieties, out loneliness, our fear and sorrow. But children hide nothing, putting everything into their tears, which they spread liberally about for the whole world to see. I wanted to savour every one of Rie’s tears, to run my tongue over the damp, festering, vulnerable places in her heart and open the wounds even wider.

In fact, I don’t really understand couples at all. They seem like some sort of inexplicable gaseous body to me- a shapeless, colourless, unintelligible thing, trapped in a laboratory beaker.

endless_waffle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0