marissasa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Bullying, and Infertility
klutzy347's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death
Moderate: Infertility, Bullying, and Sexual content
kaitoro_walker13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Infertility, and Death
hilary_v's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Infertility
stbyleth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I enjoyed that this book presented information like a puzzle to be solved. The narration allowed such information to be digested easily. Some people have said that there's too many loose ends, but I disagree; this book sets out to ask the reader specific questions and does it really well. The overall world building is negligible in a book like this, so you don't need to know everything.
I really recommend this book. I read it for a book club and I'm glad I did. Very thought provoking, poignant, and relevant today.
Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content
Minor: Infertility
cowboynixan's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Graphic: Infertility and Medical content
Moderate: Death and Medical trauma
issyd23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infertility, Medical content, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Terminal illness
librarymouse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Sexual content, Death, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Classism and Cancer
frannyrdclark'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Infertility
charliereadsalot's review against another edition
3.0
CW: mention of homophobia, death (of loved ones), bullying, mention of infertility
I read this for a class at uni and must admit, I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. Generally, I liked the book, especially because of all the questions it raised. Admittedly, it made me want to continue reading if only to find out what Madame's Gallery was all about and what Hailsham was actually all about. But I never found myself truly loving what I was reading, probably also because it read a lot like literary fiction to me and that just isn't my genre. I feel like over the course of the entire book nothing happened but still, enough was going on (and you know, the incentive of having to write an exam about this) to keep me going.
While reading I was trying to piece together what was going on and it came together in a painstakingly slow way. And all the while, there is still so much to think about regarding Kathy, Ruth and Tommy's (as well as their fellow students) experiences at Hailsham, that entire enterprise of the school and their fates after they left.
Spoiler
They were never truly free, their entire purpose was being an organ donor in their later life and even though Miss Emily explained to Kathy and Tommy that she and Marie-Claude initiated Hailsham to make the students experience more humane, was it really? Why give them a false sense of hope and joy in life when it doesn't amount to anything in the end? And even the system of Carers and Donors keeps them amongst themselves, isolates them from each other in their roles. But they grow up in this system and never even question its legitimacy, they just accept it and conform to it.I think it's hard to talk about the full scope of this story without giving anything away and as usual I'm highly anticipating the discussion about it in class.
Moderate: Bullying and Death
Minor: Homophobia and Infertility