Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Passengers by John Marrs

4 reviews

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Oh, my goodness. John Marrs is so “balls to the wall” with this book. What a morbid sense of humor he sometimes has. LOL! This story is continually churning from beginning to end, always staying fresh because there are multiple narrators, but the many characters should not be daunting. The book has 70 chapters and each is easily digestible, allowing the reader to gradually get to know the different characters, something about their backgrounds, and eventually the shared terror in which they all find themselves participating. 

The story is complex and full of the realistic, though possibly a bit exaggerated in some cases, life situations that many people face. Throughout the story, the reader will feel a variety of emotions for each character as you learn about many, many gray areas that exist in their respective lives. But you can never feel you have the whole story because the author continually introduces revelations that can make you sympathize more and less and sometimes in between. Life is complicated and making assumptions about people without a clear picture of their experiences and motivations is a mistake.

This book has wonderfully contemporary themes, such as fear of burgeoning technology, crooked, greedy, and corrupt politics, old moral values versus personal rights, and the detestable fascination people have developed for reality entertainment, even when it celebrates the reprehensible human behavior. Taking all that into consideration, this was a highly entertaining book!

I listened to the audiobook and thought the cast of voice actors were excellent, giving each character in normal and dire circumstances a really fitting voice.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, and Alcohol

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Interesting plot and characters, as well as unexpected plot twists, but I felt it went on longer than needed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

eeefann125's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

loysydneyweissman's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

if you like black mirror you’ll like this. i genuinely was surprised by every twist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism