Reviews tagging Chronic illness

The Book of Mother, by Violaine Huisman

5 reviews

_chonklord_'s review

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Addiction, Eating disorder, Suicide, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

callmeamelia's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Abortion, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

lwalla01's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I don’t know how to rate this or really how to think about this yet. 
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Having sat with this book for a little while, I think this book isn’t organized as well as it could have been. This book is part true story and part fiction. It’s classified as fiction because nothing in it is fact checked. This is essentially told from the authors memory, and by what she thinks happened from her mother’s point of view. The section told from her mother’s point of view is very compelling. However, as a whole I didn’t find myself as engaged in the story. This was on the long list for the Man Booker International Prize in 2022, and of what I have read so far it’s the weakest of the list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

emilyacres's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Car accident, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Rape, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexual content, Biphobia, Incest, Suicide, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

stephaniejaykay's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 This novel tells of growing up in the shadow of a larger-than-life woman who lived hard and struggled with mental illness: gripping, dense, beautifully written, beautifully translated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death