Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Zorrie by Laird Hunt

4 reviews

culpeppper's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

I loved following Zorrie on her life, through the joy and heartbreak and the everyday tragedies. In particular, Zorrie's observations about the natural world struck me. So often books that take place outdoors lack the observations that someone who spends a lot of time outdoors would make, but Hunt took great care to explain her relationship with it just as he would any other character in story. Besides Zorrie herself, the natural world is her oldest friend. They cry together, sharing moments of grief and release, often the only witness to Zorrie's most truthful moments. 
This isn't a happy story, but it is hopeful. Hunt pulls on different threads of history to tell Zorrie's story and, while there are moments of light and dark, feels less concerned with any final destination beyond peace for her at the end of it all. As if to say that the every person is part of a larger narrative but the personal journey is what ultimately matters, that it's those private tragedies and miracles that matter most to the shape our lives end up forming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Sexual harassment

persian_green's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and War

Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death and War

autumnleafgirl's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

Read for book club

This book is odd to me. It's a dreamy pastoral, nearly a fairytale version of the midcentury Midwest. The titular Zorrie is a likeable character, but one who experiences very little in terms of development over what's supposed to be 60+ years of narrative, apart from what I felt was a bafflingly bad decision towards the end of the book. Being only 160ish pages, nothing had a stunning amount of detail, though there was a nice sensory exploration thrown in any time fruit was mentioned.

Overall, the writing was pleasant and poetic, and the short length flew by. I don't regret reading it, but I probably won't think too much about it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Body shaming