Reviews

Kentukis by Samanta Schweblin

black_house's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

5.0

riley_rose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

carlosernesto's review against another edition

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DNF'd at 62%. Schweblin is a good writer, but this the combination of theme and structure didn't work for me. The story concerns the latest electronic toy, called a Kentuki, a sort of terrible cross between a Furby and Chat Roulette. The narrative is fractured into little vignettes, following different people who are affected by the presence of the Kentukis. Intellectually, it's an interesting commentary on things today, but the effect felt like a whole season of Black Mirror devoted to the same doohickey.

bjwing's review against another edition

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

4.0

As a middle school teacher the most horrifying chapter was the very first one, as it was just so believable. The rest of the chapters present a grim take on human nature more than they outright scare. I did enjoy it and read it all in one sitting. It wasn’t as good or as must-read as her Fever Dream, though.

lmbradley's review against another edition

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4.0

A creeptastic collection of short stories that never quite coheres into a novel as I conceive of it but explores its themes from a variety of very insular perspectives

paulhill53's review against another edition

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4.0

This made me nervous, because I kept expecting it to get dark. And then it did. Interesting read about a world of digital pets.

kittyray18's review against another edition

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5.0

A truly bizarre and unique book. I don't think I've read anything like this. I don't love all of the multiple perspectives and it's hard to keep track of, but it deserves five stars because of its uniqueness and how disturbing it is. TW - Animal Death

frencarillon's review against another edition

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3.0

Voto 2,5/5

Una puntata di Black Mirror che non ce l'ha fatta. Poteva osare molto di più.

_artsychild's review against another edition

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

2.0

Interesting and original premise with multiple POV’s. Because of how many pov’s we have, the reader cannot connect with any of them since the chapters don’t say much about them other than what they do on a daily basis. 

The characters lacked depth, the plot… what was the point? Is this a way of criticizing society and how we connect/interact with people? It did manage to speak a bit about the subject, but not as a way of criticism. 

The book could’ve been shorter, I felt that the chapters dragged for way too long and led nowhere. 

Easy read, but boring, with all due respect to the author. 

breyoung719's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

4.25