Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Abandon by Blake Crouch

6 reviews

himpersonal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As with most of the Crouch books I've read, it's full of high-tension action. I enjoyed this part. I liked less the parallel stories. I also am unclear as to why this book is categorized as horror. Definitely creepy, but nothing about it fit the horror genre for me - not that I was looking for that, but my brain was certainly ready for it based on the description. The only horror for me was what happened to Lana, and that was largely because the man who did it to her was evil.

I disliked every single character, including Abigail. The themes of greed and moral bankruptcy, crises of faith, oppressive patriarchy, taking advantage of the disadvantaged, what veterans deserve, etc. are all important things to explore, but it was all at the surface level. I guess when the action moves as fast is it does in Crouch's writings, it can get a bit difficult to delve while keeping events moving forward.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I think I liked some of his others more than this one. It could make a good movie. 
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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.25

Finished reading: October 18th 2024


“The worst moments of your life you never see coming.”

Right... I should probably have trusted my instincts and left this book be. This will teach me to never trust a blurb, and to pay more attention to the reviews instead. Still, I loved the picture the blurb of what was supposed to be a supernatural horror slash survival thriller painted, and I did enjoy my first three experiences with Blake Crouch's writing... So I caved and decided to read it anyway. BIG mistake. Basically everything in the blurb is a big fat lie. There is no supernatural element, there is no paranormal horror to spice things up. Sure, the survival part is still there... But the main focus is basically on a whole boatload of people being killed in the most gruesome and graphic way possible. I don't mind things getting dark and violent, but only if it serves a purpose and if it adds something to the plot. In the case of Abandon, it was just gore galore and SO many deaths that I started skimreading the scenes because I just wanted it to be over. The story uses a dual timeline structure, and while the present timeline set in 2009 was initially engaging enough, I absolutely hated the 1893 timeline from the very start. It has an overload of characters, and to make things worse just about the only purpose of most of them is to die in different horrible ways. This also applies to most of the present characters by the way... And that whole hint at a paranormal angle with the psychic and paranormal photographer in the blurb? Another big fat lie, and they could have been circus clowns and it wouldn't have made any difference in the plot. There are so many over the top and farfetched events, there are so many cliches, there are so many unbelievable and extremely frustrating twists... And in the end I wish I had just abandoned this book instead of ploughing on. This is all? Not even close. There is also the religious angle and the fact that the dialogue in the 1893 didn't feel right for the time period... And the fact that basically all men in both timelines are complete bastards. I can keep talking (ranting), but I guess I've made it clear by now that Abandon and me most definitely didn't get along. 
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storm_37's review against another edition

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

2.0

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em_gauts's review against another edition

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

2.5

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mrsfishreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

I did not expect this book to take so many dark turns!  It's definitely keeps you listening/reading. 
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cateyeschloe's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

“I wonder if this book is ever going to get interesting?” That’s a question I asked myself for the first 60% or so of this book. 

“Lazy” is the best word I could use to describe the author’s writing style. A lot of tropes you can easily rattle off the top of your head are inside the pages. And the “foreshadowing” at the beginning of the book was so extremely blatant that I could do nothing else but hope they were all red herrings to deflect from the ensuing plot twist. Unfortunately, I hoped in vain. 

One of the things that put me off the most was how clearly it is evident that the author is a man, writing a woman as his main character. At one point, someone is literally threatening the MC with torture and death and she thinks to herself that she could envision herself being attracted to him in any other setting. 

She also mourns some injuries that happen to her feet, whining to herself - “Abigail loved her feet - small, feminine, exuding a slender, proportionate beauty her friends openly envied.” I don’t know about you, girls, but I always have conversations amongst friends about who has the most beautiful, feminine feet between us. 

It definitely gives the idea that this man has never had a fleshed out whole conversation with a woman in his life. 

This book has big focus on veteran’s and their mental health post-combat. Suicide rates among veterans is a major, very prominent issue in the real world. In this book, PTSD and suicide attempts among veterans is absolutely nothing more than a shabby and clumsy plot device. It’s honestly embarrassing and shameful. 

The book describes veterans as unhinged, extremely over-the-top violent, cold, and completely unfeeling. It doesn’t offer a sympathetic view into the world of PTSD or post-combat coping methods. It simply villainizes veterans and creates a miopic, singular lens with which to view them as a whole. 

I also really didn’t enjoy in the “1893” chapters that the book constantly refers to Indigenous peoples as “heathens” and “injuns” and simply “Indians”. Regardless of the time period setting, I found every instance uselessly irrelevant and distasteful, to say the least. 

This author presents this book as a supernatural, spooky tale about a “ghost town” and there is basically nothing supernatural about this book, which was a huge disappointment to me, as that was exactly what I was looking for. 

The “plot twist”, if you can call it that, is more of an explanation of events, and quite honestly was predictable long before it was explained. 

The mystery element of this book was definitely there; there were plenty of questions to be answered. Unfortunately, many of them had obvious answers that fell flat when written out. 

The characters are completely detached and hollow with a complete lack of character development or growth of any kind. There is a very feeble and clumsy attempt to build a subplot about Abigail’s relationship with her father but it is so uninteresting and tepid that any resolution that comes is almost boring. 

The only moment in the book that resonated with me emotionally at all was Lana’s story arch, and truthfully she was only used as a plot device so her story doesn’t even get any kind of pay off she deserves. 

I kept reading this book in the hopes that a major twist was coming that would upset all my disappointment and disinterest with the first three-quarters of the book. Unfortunately, the pay off just wasn’t enough.

If you want to read a mystery, sure this will fill the hours, but don’t expect any emotional investment in the characters nor any of the alleged supernatural elements. 
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