Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

26 reviews

kirkspockreads's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Reader, I cried.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence and Abortion

rory_john14's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, and Classism

breauseph's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

My greatest hope is that readers believe this book. I've been working in digital media for ten years, and the accuracy and clear-sightedness with which Lockwood manages to portray what it's like to be a content creator, to be Extremely Online, was surreal, particularly in the moments when it felt like the narrator was scratching at the inside of her own skull, trying to figure out whether her thoughts were her own, trying to understand what a legacy means when THIS is what you do for a living. Also spookily accurate was the second half of the book, the effect of tragedy and real, breathing life on your thoughts, your sense of legacy. This was catharsis. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, and Medical trauma

From my perspective, this book does a good job of celebrating disability and difference. There is a key character with a serious genetic disorder who is cherished, admired, loved, and encouraged for exactly who she is.

sho73's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

There is some beautiful prose in this book 
It captured the feeling of that suffocating molasses feeling the online world often feels like, however it didn’t breech the why it feels or is like that, and that to me felt like an itch I wanted scratching 

I found the narrator confusing and disorientating but that is the point 

This will stay with me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

litletters's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

teigancollins's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

marla_a's review

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Bullying

benjaminj1996's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

 Good grief. Erm…? Right… 

 

This is another one of those books that's actually very short but you can tell took a lot of work because it's written by a poet in a similar way to how poetry is written. Every single word placed and thought about in such detail. And I commend it for that. It starts of about a woman who spends her whole life on social media and how this changes her way of thinking and her perspective on the world. Then, in the second half, something tragic happens in the real world which flips her perspective back and perhaps helps her manage to take a healthier perspective on life - perhaps it's a comment on how it really would take something hugely traumatic to fix our brains. 

 

The thing is, both halves were really unpleasant. There was hope and beauty in there too, yes, but largely very unpleasant. The first section made my brain feel broken (a sign of good writing) but in a bad way, and the second half was just desperately sad (owing to more good writing). I will say though that as I might have predicted, it sometimes did verge on the overly-pretentious. It's certainly not an accessible read, I don't think. 

 

The other criticism I have is one that a lot of people have said about this book - the two halves do feel very separate. I don't think the second would work without the first, and there is some linking between the two, but I found that that area wasn't explored very much. And I also think that the book ended before it could have - before a conclusion of some kind could be reached, or even just a reflection on the things we've been through with the character. It felt oddly unfinished and disparate where it seemed to be trying to do the opposite. 

 

And so despite it being well written, it didn't really come together for me, and I didn't really enjoy it overall - although I did value the insights and language in certain individual moments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy

kirshark's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Poetic and potentially challenging - I wonder how it reads to people less terminally online. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

kstericker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Abortion