Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

La strada by Cormac McCarthy

20 reviews

fakeppy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Such beautiful writing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

plantainicus's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Medical content

Minor: Rape and Death of parent

calhudak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Slavery, and Cannibalism

chinburgmitch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Cannibalism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Cursing

cati's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

:(

I didn't cry at all, but I'm feeling choked up just thinking about it. This book had me going "McCarthy, you sick, sick man!" at times. Like, it's insane. This passage:

Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. What if it doesnt fire? It has to fire. Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock? Is there such a being within you of which you know nothing? Can there be? Hold him in your arms.

I JUMPED. And then that scene where they find the

burnt baby

... Are you kidding me!!!!! I knew that the

dad was going to die

because he was coughing and I saw the

parent death tag

on here, but jesus christ man. I'm just gonna be staring into space for a couple days until I find another book to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, and Cannibalism

bitterpearl's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

It's an eye-opener about the effects of climate change on our planet, but at the same time the author teaches us that if current society is stripped bare of its material wealth, power, and pleasures, nothing else will help the human race but love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rafaper19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Terminal illness

erafact's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

booksonbooksonbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a #FOMO Lighthouse Library Bookclub read for June 2023, and I really had no idea what it was about. I was amused that I had already read "The Road" by Jack London which is also a really cool book, though published 99 years earlier.

My overall impression of this book was that it was like a zombie apocalypse story, minus the trees and the zombies. In a non-descript North America that has been razed by fire, a man and his boy walk south in the hopes that they will get to warmer weather, and find it easier to survive. The main characters are known simply as the man, and the boy. This sort of increases the feeling of the bleakness, because for the most part, people are few and far between, and so you don't need a whole heap of names to disambiguate people.. and those names you do get from people are arbitrary and fairly meaningless.

Obviously this is a story of survival, and the balance of grief, hope and faith. As they travel down a highway they have to overcome obstacles both physical and emotional. The narrative is a mix of procedural descriptions, and poetic prose. It almost feels like the pretty bits are mismatched to the story, but I figure you have to have some fancy bits for your essays about the Literature (crozzled means with dark crispy bits on the outside.. like bacon). Typically the poetic observations are those of the end of day; musings that find one just before sleep after a long day of slogging through the countryside. It might help to have a dictionary nearby, because you don't get a Pulitzer by only using common words. There is a harsh poetic beauty to describing a highway full of burnt out cars whose occupants were scorched inside as they tried to flee the firestorms.

Ten thousand dreams ensepulchred within their crozzled hearts.

I really loved the descriptions of coming upon windfall resources, and in my own mind, I would have stopped my journey if I found plenty of resources.. or at least had a breather. Maybe I'm too risk averse to survive the holocaust of a continent. From what happens it doesn't look like radiation is a part of it, so this is a different take on things than other apocalyptic stories like Mad Max.

It was certainly an interesting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail