Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Only the Beautiful

Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner

12 reviews

bookishdragonshoard's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Such a gripping and important work of fiction, shedding light on horrors which are unfortunately not fictitious. Beautifully written!

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sandrahunt90's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

4.25

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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a beautiful but heavy book about eugenics and the evils humans can perpetrate against each other.

I loved both the first part with Rosie, who is dealing with these themes in California, and the second part with Helen, who is dealing with these themes in Nazi-occupied Austria. The way the two stories paralleled was wonderful, because it really emphasized the way that some of the things that Nazi's did were still being done here in America both before and after the Nazis. However, I wish the book had gone back and forth between the two narratives. Separating the two reduced some of the impact of the parallels for me.

If you liked this one, consider reading Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, which talks about similar themes.

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jjsbookcase's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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siriface's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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jeehernandez87's review

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informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so hard to read at times due to the ugly history of eugenics. Most have heard about the horrors that occurred during the time of WWII, but rarely do you hear of the absolutely evil acts that were being committed in the USA before, during and after that time. The goal of mutilation and murder in many ways mirrored the acts that Hitler and his regime carried out in what most Americans consider “so far away”. It was happening here, in the United States. I found the number of years it continued to happen to be shocking to say the least.

My heart broke so many times, and I was on the verge of tears throughout so much of this book. Rarely do I feel this emotional when reading, but this one literally gave me all the feels. I don’t want to share spoilers, but near the end there was a moment that gave me goosebumps, and then immediately my heart sank just a bit as I empathized with the character and what this meant for their future. This happened many times throughout the book, and those that read this, will understand. I rarely give five stars but this certainly deserves it.

On a final note, I think everyone should take the time to learn a bit about this time period, and what was happening in the USA. This was very eye opening for me, especially after reading through the author’s notes at the end. There are books that change you, your perception of history and what you think possible. This book will stay with me long after I finished reading it’s pages.

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lgmelcher's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.75

Wow. There are some tough themes in this book (google for content warnings) but if you like reading stories of perseverance and characters who take action to try and right wrongs and stem the tide of atrocities, this book may be for you. Meissner is an auto-read author for me -- I appreciate the depth of her research and her treatment of challenging historical topics through complex characters and storylines. This one is well done on audio, too.

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