Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

11 reviews

alba_marie's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Terminal illness

hanz's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Think I'd class this more as history or even social issues as opposed to true crime. The book jumps around a lot between the fire and its investigation, the history of the LA library and the current people and services of that library. 

The history parts were my favourite and there were a lot of interesting facts about the people involved in the early stages of the library. 

Occasionally hard to follow because it jumped around a lot and I found that some of the chapters ended quite abruptly and didn't really have a conclusion to add to the overall point of the book, however I'm relatively new to non fiction so could just be me. 

The author also repeated used either he or she to refer to an arbitrary person, which was a little jarring and felt out of place with some of the themes of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexism, Infidelity, Death, Child death, Antisemitism, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

lunep's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, Homophobia, Addiction, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexism

bookworm_leilani's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

3.0

This book felt to me like it really could have used an editor: it was a bird's eye view of libraries in the US, with a particular emphasis on how they've adjusted to the internet, and a history of the LA library,  a summery of the LA Library fire and the accused arsonist Harry Peak, and bordered on being a profile of the modern LA library, all interspersed with personal anecdotes and memoir like passages. None of these are bad things, and they mostly go together, but the way they're mushed up feels less ambling and more disjointed. It doesn't quite do what it says on the tin, so to speak, either in terms of the title of the thing or it's cover copy.

Still, Orlean is an engaging and accessible writer, and humanizes her subjects both living and deceased without making it feel like people are under a microscope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny and Classism

Minor: Terminal illness and Emotional abuse

caseythereader's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

 - THE LIBRARY BOOK is more than just an investigation of whether L.A. Central Library was a victim of arson. It's also a history of the branch, of libraries generally, and a look at what libraries have evolved into today and the challenges librarians tackle every day.
- This book is a love letter to libraries and a message of gratitude to librarians. The descriptions of people and places read like fiction, and I just couldn't put it down.
- I really appreciated the repeated emphasis on how libraries are expected to fill every social need and gap in our safety nets, in particular in regards to supporting unhoused people but also in dozens of other ways. It shows us how far beyond their limits (financial, educational, etc.) we have forced them to stretch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Antisemitism, Classism, Racism, Suicide, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Addiction

beautifulpaxielreads's review

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Homophobia and Terminal illness

Spoiler

Some discussion of the 1980s-early 1990s HIV/AIDS crisis

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Addiction

breadwitchery's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Racism

quasinaut's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.5

I wasn't expecting to learn so much about fire damage and arson from a book about libraries -- though I suppose that's because The Library Book centers around the devastating 1986 fire at Central Library in LA. I appreciate the depth and details about the library's history, including the many eccentric characters that have crossed paths with the library through the years, but most of the time, the book didn't hold my attention for long. Whenever I was reading it, I enjoyed it, but as soon as I put it down I didn't feel much incentive to pick it up again. But it was worth finishing (eventually)!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Drug use, and Terminal illness

herk's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Terminal illness

Minor: Racism