Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

49 reviews

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Medical content, and War

blouviere4's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Violence, and War

captainoliimar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Abandonment, Death, Incest, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Biphobia, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Suicide

breadbees's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, War, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual content, and Rape

megan_j's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I thought people were exaggerating when they said how sad this book was - THEY WERENT. Very rarely does a book make me cry but this one did the trick, and also kept me up all night. It is literally the saddest thing ever. The end of this book really saved it for me, all the way through I was floating between a 4 and 4.5 rating simply because there are SO MANY CHARACTERS. And they have SO MANY different names, and I get that it’s all the mythology and stuff but I found it sooo hard to keep track at times and who I should actually be keeping track of and who is going to important to the story that I need to remember later on. Overall it was beautifully written with wonderful characters. Read if you want to cry!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, War, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, and Murder

julia_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Gobsmacked. I haven’t read  a book like this in a long time, if ever. It manages to be so many things at once. Brutal and beautiful, sexy and gruesome, heartwarming and heartbreaking. The hype had me skeptical for the first few chapters but I quickly grew attached and can already tell these are characters that will live in me now long after reading. The plot was immaculate; executed to perfection with the reader’s  experience in mind at all times. It’s a work of genius, no exaggeration. And it is as sad as they say, but worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Blood, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Rape, and Trafficking

Minor: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Outing, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Self harm

pigeonpersona's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm glad I got around to reading this one. A beautiful telling of the lives of Patroclus and Achilles before and during the Trojan War. The first couple hundred pages were good but not great, and I felt like there could have been more moments added to make me grow to like the characters more. However, it was nice to have Patroclus as the narrator, as you could always feel his love for Achilles. I think I cared more about Patroclus' feelings then I cared about Achilles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, War, Violence, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Vomit, and Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism

des9120's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Such a great, emotional read from start to finish. Definitely one of my favorites. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, and War

elysedc's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Medical content, War, Gore, Grief, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Gore, Sexual content, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Violence, and War

Minor: Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Xenophobia, War, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Rape, and Violence

tayahmarie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I haven’t stopped thinking about this epic tale since I finished the last chapter. I’ve never been a huge fan or reader of Greek Mythology, to the point where I haven’t even read Homer, The Odyssey or The Iliad (I know, wtf is going on? 😭) but this one right here? Oh, this is IT. I could tell from the first chapter that I was going to enjoy this story, but didn’t realize how much I would come to adore it, as well as Achilles and Patroclus. 

As many people have noted, Miller’s writing is absolutely stunning. I’ve never read a book with such beautiful and intoxicating prose such as this; I found myself falling in love with the words as much as the storytelling. 

More on Achilles and Patroclus though, I loved both of them individually and collectively. Talk about the definition of the Grumpy/Sunshine trope! I liked how Miller allowed us to see the many flaws of both characters, but also their strong points. Furthermore, I have to talk about how this was as star-crossed lovers as you can get. One thing about me? I love a good STC lovers trope, with Titanic being one of my favorite movies ever. I understand how tragic the trope is, knowing that two characters can never be together, like the actual universe, fate, and the prophecy are keeping them a part, but I love how passionate and in love they are. It makes their bond appear more deep, meaningful, and intense. It’s beautifully tragic and THAT is Art, people. This book embodies art. 

Final Thoughts: If you still somehow haven’t picked up this book yet, then what are you waiting for? You don’t have to be a Greek Mythology expert to follow along. It really does boil down to a beautiful, yet tragic love story between two amazing characters who deserve so much better. I’m looking forward to reading Circe next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Death, Misogyny, War, Violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Rape, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts