Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

30 reviews

elisabeth_with_an_ess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is written in the style of spoken reminiscences, with allusions to things that haven't been described yet, and "but maybe I should explain..." 

This device makes you really feel that you are one of Kathy's friends, or maybe just a chance acquaintance, or perhaps one of her donors who has been asking for stories of Hailsham.

All in all, this is a devastating book, will make you ponder all the things that bind us together as humans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

wolfism's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infertility, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia and Toxic friendship

kirareads02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a tense listen. You never knew what was going to happen or what secrets would be told. I really enjoyed how we found everything out slowly, and the narrator told us her story as though we lived in that world, like we knew what her school was. 

Really lovely, romantic and hopeful book. At the start I was hooked but couldn't understand reviews as to why it was classed as a dystopian novel so that was interesting for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, War, and Classism

kotahlotah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Trafficking

rzh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

oh.....my goodness this was a lot. intense, brooding, sad, mysterious... took me a while to get into the sort of conversational style its written in, but once i was in i was IN. the book somehow reminded me a bit of jane eyre? maybe the POV, the "stages" it is in, the reflection on a past life in a boarding school and the constant sense of foreboding and mystery all the way through. maybe its a personal thing but i found the whole mystery of the novel quite frustrating at times. i know that was really the point of the book, but it just felt like cathy was going to reveal a bit more every so often, and then she'd just change the subject, which left me feeling a bit short changed by all the parts that went unanswered.  like......

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?

all in all a really gorgeous book: not the kind of thing i'd usually read, but would be up for reading another by ishiguro some point soon. 4.25 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Infertility, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, and Classism

Minor: Suicide

have_a_doris_day's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infertility

Minor: Homophobia

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

This book is unlike anything I have read before, and I definitely want to read more of Ishiguro’s work in the future.
Never Let Me Go follows Kath as past relationships are rekindled, leading her to remember the significant events of Halisham, her old school. Through these memories Kath begins to learn more about the dark truths hidden throughout adolescence, but also truths about herself.
For me, the writing style and formatting are what made the book so unique. Told in 2nd person and non-linearly, readers are only given surface level information until the resolution. Ultimately, this helps cultivate a mysterious mood and makes the payoff more worthwhile.
Still, some elements of the confusion made it difficult for me to follow, which is why I rated it 4.75. The ending was phenomenal and quite a tearjerker, but in a few cases I wasn’t as invested as I would have liked to be.
No shame on the author however, as writing a book is incredible on its own, especially one creative as Never Let Me Go
If you like gradual sad books with character driven elements, this is for you:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism and Sexual content

greatu's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment