Because this story was every kind of heartbreaking and evil. Yet I loved every minute of it. Giving it four stars, as I wish parts of the ending had been different. But other than that, it was perfection. It ruined me. And I don't think I will forget about this book for a long time. I'm also not sure my heart will ever recover from the scares.
I was a little unsure when I started this book. When I saw that it was about five hundred pages long and with small writing. Which means it would take ages to read, ha. But I started it. And found the beginning to be all kinds of boring, as it begins with the story of forty two year old Tim. Which truly was not all that interesting at first, but I grew to love this man. But even though his story was mostly boring, it was also important. And he only got his point of view for less than fifty pages. Once everything happened from Luke's point of view I had trouble to make myself stop reading. And so I finished this book pretty fast. Which I don't regret at all. Because every part of this story captured my mind and heart. And ruined both, ha. But I loved it so despite that. So very good.
This book begins with the story of Tim. With him walking away from his old life and settling at a very small town in the middle of nowhere. We only get to know him a little, but I liked him and the town he ended up in. But then the story truly begins, when it jumps to the point of view of Luke. He is only twelve years old. We get to learn a little about him and his life. He is super smart, way more than an average person. He is taking the test to go to college early. He has loving parents and some good friends too. A pretty good life.
But this does not last. We get to see him kidnapped. His parents both murdered. Then we see him wake up in a room that looks almost exactly like his own. But it is not his home. And he is all kinds of freaked out. When walking out of his room he meets other kids around his own age. They were all kidnapped too. None of them know what happened to their parents. But they all know why they were taken. As each of the kid has a small power; mind reading or making things move. None of them has a very strong version.
But all were taken. And this place is not a safe place to be. Luke learns fast what goes on in this institute. The kids have their own bedrooms and a place to eat, watch tv and they get to go outside in a playground too. But this is a prison. They are not allowed anywhere else. Then there are all the experiments. I would say that all the kids are tortured. They are given soso many shots. Forced to do humiliating things. If they don't behave, they get beaten. If they do behave, they get tokens for special treats. All of it was so wrong.
The way they were all experimented on. Shudders. I will not write any more of it down, because it is best to read about it yourself. It was kind of exciting and interesting to read about, but so very horrible. And so heartbreaking to read about too. These kids were broken down. Luke was smart, but this did not help him much. Not until another kid showed up, tiny Avery. He was ten, but seemed so much younger. He was so small. But had such a great power of mind reading. Which was pretty amazing to read about. Adored him.
So much of this book is about the institute and how they treated Luke and his new friends. How goddamn awful all the adults are and how very many of them enjoyed hurting the kids. No sexual abuse, thankfully, but it was still abuse and still horrible to read about. I wanted all of these kids to be okay. But so so many of them were not. Gosh. I wish the book had ended a little differently. It was a good ending for sure. But I wish there had been way fewer deaths and more punishments. Ha. But still, I loved it. Only wanted more.
There is much I could write down about this book. I truly doubt I will stop thinking about it for a long time. Which is a good thing, because this book was all kinds of incredible. Just, hard to read. I said it was about Luke being at the institute, but it is also about him and his friends trying to escape. Which I wish they all would. It was also about three different sections of this place. Which was completely awful to read about but written so well too. Also, I really liked the few scenes in the old town. It was a pretty great little town.
I liked that this book had parts of our world included. It was set less than two years ago. I liked how parts of it seemed important to everything that is going on here. I simply enjoyed how Stephen included certain things from our life too. I felt like it was done well. I also very much liked his writing. At least in this book. It was so good. And so I am pretty sure I will be reading more books by him. Just need to figure out where to start, haha. I love the IT movies, but do not think I will ever read that book. Hmm. But maybe some day.
I simply have to say that The Institute was everything I wanted it to be. Even though I had no idea what it would really be about. It ruined my heart most of the time. The ending was so bittersweet but so good too, which just hurt even more. The Institute is a book that will make you think about how our world is now as well. And I think that everyone should read this story. It was so evil but so good and so important as well. And I am beyond thrilled that I read this book. Will for sure be reading more books by Stephen King soon.
This book was so crap and so illogical at every turn that I rated it a 2. It contradicted itself in its plot and had no logical basis in anything. It was a total bummer, like most of this author - he gained fame through film productions. And it's because it's easy to implement facade ideas. The author has an idea and is almost never able to follow it logically, much less intelligently.
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