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erin2802's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief
braggsy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
caitlin_123a's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
bootrat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
The book is a series of scenes in the narrator's life, with little context though you pick up fiarly quickly what's going on. However it didn't fit as cohesive narrative making it quite difficult to follow as an audiobook, especially when read while doing other tasks.
I may try to get hold of a physical copy to see if it's better when I can flick back and forth in order to understand things more clearly.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Death and Grief
james1star's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
In ‘They’ we follow an unnamed protagonist who lives alone by the coast with a dog - in my reading I thought this person was probably a woman as people call them ‘love’ a few times and just felt they were written female if that makes sense, I also believe they change from chapter to chapter but this may not be the case - across nine chapters. Each is like a mini story in itself with multiple characters that don’t repeat but there are some recurring events just different scenarios. As the novella progresses, the reader is introduced to the various aims and methods of the group known as ‘they’ who are threatening the main characters and general population to some extent. It’s clear the thing ‘they’ dislike the most is the arts and artistic expression whereby they over time confiscate/steal/destroy works of human creativity (books, paintings, records, poems, etc), terrorise/kidnap/imprison/kill offenders and try to enact conformity onto people. Displays of emotion (e.g. grief of a lost love which is seen as the worst as it signifies the fact love has meaning), non-conformity and those who live alone are also under attack. The characters attempt to live with the fear and put their own energy into creating works as fighting back wouldn’t prove useful, but this is a hard pill to swallow.
The group called ‘Them’ are written to be anonymous and all we know is their general dislike and the fact their numbers are growing. I think this is done well as Dick doesn’t add any humanity to them or their actions, the characters know they are a present threat and don’t bother to interact with them as this’ll obviously prove fruitless. What I didn’t like that much was how were given a similar level of disconnect with the named characters in each chapter/story. There are too many, too short stories so the reader can’t experience the characters in full, so no one is memorable, less and longer chapters would have been better in my opinion. BUT I do like the ambiguity of how each ends and this is probably what Dick was going for, so I respect it and see why but still didn’t really like it if that makes sense. The questioning and leaning into the horror genre were okay but maybe needed more expansion, it’s definitely a dystopia.
The writing was okay. I appreciate it’s meant to be rather fast paced but lots of short sentences did break the text up a little too much. There’s some nice metaphors and descriptive language that’s useful in describing locations for example. The violence isn’t exactly graphic but the recurrence of animal cruelty/death is something I hate to read so Yhh, but it could have been worse.
Last point: in the final chapter, a character is only referred to as ‘the autistic child’ whilst everyone else is given a name. This irked me so much, like Dick just give him a name!!! Having autism isn’t someone’s whole personality, it just felt unnecessary and like she was using the boy’s autism to belittle him in a sense, I dunno?? This was a small part but it stuck with me.
I’m happy this was found and I would say it’s worth reading but it’s possible the impact wasn’t something I picked up on. Possibly a re-read might prove useful but we shall see.
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Suicide, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
inkling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It didn't quite meet my expectations, and wasn't really my thing. However it is a very short book so well worth a try! It might be just what you are looking for.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence
Minor: Grief
bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
spooderman's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Minor: Suicide attempt and Death of parent
sorcha's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief
nstew16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As for the book itself, the writing style alone was amazing. If you love the ocean, art, and reading, this book explores the beauty and responsibilities of both so candidly. Stylistically it reminded me a lot of Kate Wilhelm's Abyss.
I was also reminded while reading of the many reasons why I don't actively seek out horror. The last time I read anything resembling horror was reading Roald Dahl's The Landlady. It does exactly what it should as a horror.
It ends as I expected it to, with no resolution but a hint of hope. I don't think a reader can possibly as for anything more from this short exploration into what it means when creativity is feared.
Other books that They reminded me of:
1. Abyss
2. The Landlady
3. The Circle/The Every
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Grief