Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

L'isola degli alberi scomparsi by Elif Shafak

7 reviews

melreadsandrecs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

minareadsa19e1's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

this did not quite live up to the hype for me. i thought it was good but not great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent

watermelleon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

I need to have another cry and talk about this at book club before writing a review here.... I read a huge chunk of this today and it has been nothing but crying my eyes out with little water breaks. my library copy now has mascara smudges on it, nothing I can do about that I guess :s

in short - best book I have read in a long time. it is beautifully written, surprisingly close to home and relatable, generally so informative on topics I new nothing about (that I probably should have!). it has changed my outlook on many perspectives in my life. this is a lifechanging book that I will be recommending to everyone. there are some tough, tough topics but so much hope and nostalgia as well.

on a personal note: This book has allowed me to reflect on my own recently-uprooted family history, and has helped me reflect on that as well the now clear impact of this on my family moving down through the generations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Terminal illness

War Imagery throughout and discussion of death of multiple characters in detail (not graphic in terms of gore, but explains how they died). Colonisation: discussion throughout of colonisation in relation to cyprus and the effects of this, more focussed on the cultural impact than graphic/gore detail. Pregnancy and Children:

a child dies at a young age of malaria, child is assumed for a while to be an abortion.

Terminal Illness:

Main Character's grand parents died as a result of cancer- they were poisoned by asbestos from some overalls used for working in the mines

Sucide / alcohol / drug use:

the main character's mother is revealed to have killed herself, was an alcoholic and took pills to end her life

Mental Illness: many themes of mental illness throughout, especially a big theme of inheriting generational trauma (war related) and how this impacts younger generations the most. Bullying

short scene of bullying in a british school at the beginning of the book

Panic Attacks

short scene of bullying in a british school at the beginning of the book. The main character has a panic attack and screams during her class, an incident which is later discussed.

Homophobia

an interracial gay couple (two men) are kidnapped and killed within context of a war, it is suggested that their sexuality is a part of the attack as well as their conflicting cutural backgrounds

Kidnapping

an interracial gay couple are kidnapped and killed within context of a war, suggested that their sexuality is a part of the attack as well as their conflicting cutural backgrounds

caleb_makes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

Devastating and beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Abortion, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cinnamonpizza8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

The author did a magical job of tying together a beautiful story of immigration and conflict and history effortlessly. I felt engrossed in this book when I read it, wanting to hear all the details and deeply thinking of the concepts the author rose through the characters. The fig tree was the best part of the story - I loved having this omnipresent voice that felt grounded (haha, get it). Overall, a great story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is not a book I would have chosen for myself but I am exceedingly grateful to the book club that put it before me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Hate crime and Medical trauma