Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Empuzjon by Olga Tokarczuk

4 reviews

sarahb919's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

 Very well-written but also very slow-paced. Towards the middle I started to get bored and was wondering if the plot would ever reappear. But I stuck around because I wanted my suspicions about the main character confirmed. Was happy they were confirmed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lvleggett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The main character arrives at a sanatorium in Switzerland in the early 1900s to take the treatment. He is surrounded by a guesthouse of men who pontificate on the superiority of men, among other philosophical points. He is always a bit removed, unsettled and immediately aware of unnerving elements in and around the house. While horror does appear - in what is said and what is done - it is not the driving force of the book. It is the main character's understanding of self. 

Olga always challenges me. I'm looking up references and reflecting on moments long after I've read them. It's not casual reading. But it is fun and startling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Alcohol

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Confinement, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

cute_emo_bookboy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.25

Now I don't know how to reffer to the main character... lol... we say no to misgendering fictional characters

Really nice book... at least the first ¾. I really liked the mysterous charm that this book had, also the emotions and trauma of the main character but by the end, I didn't feel that tension

He/she, how do you prefer to call them, just put on some female clothes and left? Like, what? The gender implications were nice but it just didn't fit in this book. I'm saying this as a trans person

I thought that the paranormal stuff will be more important to the plot. Also, I've seen some people having problem with Tokarczuk's "feminism". Personally, I thought that these dialogue like "if women dislike something then it's good" were more like a joke...? Okay then...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Terminal illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Vomit and War

ekfmef's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Wat een boek. Ik kan deze leeservaring eigenlijk niet onder woorden brengen. Flarden blijven na-ijlen en rondzingen in je hoofd. 

Enerzijds is het een verrukkelijke persiflage op De Toverberg. Ik denk dat dit boek niet half zo leuk is als je niet bekend bent met dat boek. De ellenlange misogyne dialogen zijn een stuk beter te plaatsen als je weet welke kritiek er wordt ge-uit door de dialoog überhaupt op deze manier vorm te geven.

Anderszijds is het ook eng, koud en slijmerig. Op een goede manier maar niet op een cozy queer manier. En toch is dit boek echt enorm queer. Het blijft jammer dat queer verhalen niet gewoon in termen van geluk beschreven kunnen worden maar als het gaat om lijden dan kan Tokarczuk dat wel echt adembenemend. Er zitten echt zoveel lagen in dit verhaal... 

Dus ja, je kan dit boek zien als het queeren van de Toverberg, maar dat betekent niet dat het allemaal regenbogen en maneschijn is, anders zou het ook geen Tokarczuk zijn denk ik. Jeetje. Echt vakvrouwschap in net iets meer dan 300 pagina's. 

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Na de tweede keer lezen net zo awesome. Het boek is wel echt gaaf als je de wending kent.. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, Violence, and Medical trauma