vanreads's reviews
358 reviews

This book is one great psychological thought experiment on human nature as it follows a number of students forced to kill each other off in a twisted game in a fictional dystopic Japan. It does a brilliant job exploring the different backstories of each of the students and what led them to make each of their decisions in the game. Like a lot of Japanese literature, it's more character-driven than plot-driven. I really liked the psychological explorations of each character, but it's definitely not a book I would pick up and read casually for fun on any given day (for obvious reasons).

P.S. Besides the premise, it's really nothing like the Hunger Games at all.

Horror show.

I feel like I read this book in the wrong time. Had I been a white woman in the 80s, I would have felt very passionate about this story. The feminist dystopia of this book seems somewhat simple today, and I don’t think it encapsulates the complexities of feminism in today’s context that intersect with being a woman of color. I know that this isn’t what the book is about and it was very progressive for it’s time, but I just don’t relate to it. I did find the concept to be interesting.

This book in the series is such a slog to get through.

I liked this better than The Handmaid’s Tale for its entertainment factor. I think the story in this was more fleshed out in terms of writing clarity. It’s not as progressive as The Handmaid’s Tale because it doesn’t really do anything new.