jabberwalky's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Infertility
dancefever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Spoiler
if the other teenagers at the cottages weren't from hailsham, where did they come from? if they were from similar schools, why were they so mystified by the hailsham students? were the carers allowed to be part of society before being called up to being donors, or not? what is the whole system around leaving the cottages, who is the "they" who enforces the rules around carers and donors, why are we never introduced to them? i know we get reintroduced to miss emily and madame at the end, but surely there were other forces at play?Graphic: Child death, Death, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
schmitzy_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Trafficking
madarauchiha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
It's very melancholy, not v hard into the scifi / medical aspects, irritatingly monologue prone, quite dreamy. Can get boring.ย
In a word, this book can be described as staid. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's almost autobiographical. No rating as I didn't connect with the book, but it's well written and would be appreciated by others.
content warnings:
minor emetophobia, NSFW, death, child death, pedophilia, child abuse,ย
medium eugenics, peer abuse / bullying, sexual content, body horror, gore, medical content, medical abuse,ย
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Sexual content, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Death, Child death, and Child abuse
nepheloma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Spoiler
What I personally realized through this book was that we keep on living life because that's the core of our humanity: to create and to exist, no matter how absurd our existence might really be. We're not different from the students at all -our existence is a path straight towards death, just like theirs. But we keep carrying on, because what matters is that we live until we die.I think that the only thing that I didn't enjoy very much was the writing style of this book. I do understand that it is designed to reflect that the story is told orally, but I found it repetitive. Sometimes, there was foreshadowing that was too obvious or even repeatedly mentioned, which made me feel that the set ups the writer wanted to create were a little not too strongly built. At times, I also found the narration somewhat emotionless, especially in the beginning of the book, but even though this bogged me, I have to admit that it did contribute to the general morose, yet hopeful, atmosphere that the book had.
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
catol's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infertility, and Grief
I took this book to empathise with child laborers and the clients of their labour. It made me reflect on my views of humanity, how to take action. This book was a personal insight into being born in a situation where your future is a second thought and comes after you have escaped the system that ties you to poverty, unless you donate all the labor you have to give until you die. This book gave an insight into the atrociously inhumane treatments neoliberalism has created. I understand