Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

54 Minuten by Marieke Nijkamp

13 reviews

rayannreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Islamophobia, Car accident, and Outing

jane_carey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

HUGE TWs

I'm having a hard time figuring out how exactly to voice my problems with this book so I'll start with a positive? It made me cry, bawl like a baby just because of its nature. It was also pretty diverse which counts for something. That being said I feel like it was written by someone who really wanted to cover an important topic but didn't actually have the ability to do so. I've seen a few other reviewers say it was very "black and white" and I think that's a good way to put it. And I'm not at all looking for any glorification of school shooters but it would have been nice to show how varying victims can be and how events like these still have such a huge impact on everyone. My biggest issue however, was the portrayal of how the characters coped with the shooting and previous traumas. It felt very unrealistic and, for lack of a better term slightly offensive. Off of my distaste for the content I was also disappointed in the writing style. It was written in four different POVs and it may as well have been a book in one perspective with how similar the voice of every character was. Overall I'm very disappointed, this topic is one I want to learn more about and I think I will try to find books that portray it more realistically. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Chronic illness

mjwilliamson's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Incredibly well written with great character depth. Although there was a fair bit of exposition, it is understandable that, in their situation, the characters would choose to focus on certain things. I thought that the romance which developed in during the present was slightly unbelievable but Nijkamp really managed to capture the complexity of character and intertwining depth of relationships. And sadly it was terrifyingly chilling how realistic the story was. There are no happy endings in a story like this, and no one ever comes out unharmed. Don’t read this one before you go to bed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Death of parent